Overlord!

Chapter 279 Zhou Yu’s March
Of course, it is impossible for all the [-] troops in the Jiangbei Expedition to gather on the Shouchun front line.

The kind of play that leads a 10,000+ army and rushes forward in a reckless manner. In addition to crushing the situation, the ending is not very good in most cases.It is easy to be blocked by a city or an army of the opponent, and then be broken by the enemy waiting for an opportunity.

This was especially true during the late Han Dynasty.

The three famous battles, the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Chibi, and the Battle of Yiling, were all in this situation.The dominant side gathers forces to attack the enemy's front line, and then is blocked by the opponent's elite troops, and then defends and counterattacks, with the weak defeating the strong.

Therefore, in addition to Sun Ce's [-] elite naval divisions in Shouchun, the other two groups were stationed in Xiangyang and Pengcheng.

Of course, according to military tactics, the two forces will not be evenly divided, and there will always be real and weak forces.

When deploying, after careful consideration, Sun Ce chose to focus on the left road, that is, to gather heavy troops on the Jingxiang line.

Zhou Yu commanded [-] elite troops and left Xiangyang to attack Nanyang.Zhuge Liang commanded an army of [-] and attacked the vast territory from Pengcheng.

The reason for this is still related to the geographical situation of the world.

When Zhuge Liang's army left Xuzhou, they either took the Kangfu Road, which is to march from Pei County to Shanyang, or they took the Taishan Road from Langya to Dongjun, which was heavily guarded by Cao's army.It is difficult to launch a military front and move forward in an unstoppable manner.

If he marched toward Liang State along the Ju River, it would coincide with the direction of Sun Ce's main attack. As long as Cao Cao stationed a small number of troops on the line between Changping and Juyang, he could block Sun Ce's [-]-strong army in the southeast.

The main force of this Northern Expedition will be the same as that of King Wu Liu Bi. The three armies gathered on the front line and stayed at home but did not move forward.

Therefore, the more appropriate method is undoubtedly for Zhou Yu to lead the generals of the Jingzhou faction to attack Nanyang. On the Xiangfan battlefield, Jiangdong has the advantage of the navy. At the same time, Nanyang is densely populated and suitable for troop deployment.

In the end, a large number of generals such as Wenpin and Li Yan came from the rich families in Nanyang. Members of Huang, Han, Wen, and Li clans from Nanyang's famous families all served in Jiangdong, such as Liu Miao, Han Ran, Han Ji, Song Zhong and others.

These people may be Confucian scholars in the world, or they may be famous in prefectures and counties. They gather together with the township party to help Jiangdong capture Nanyang, which greatly facilitates Zhou Yu's advance.

Moreover, Nanyang is a broad and flat basin, which is suitable for cavalry. As long as Zhou Yu can defeat a Cao army here, and then induce the heroes of Nanyang, Runan, and Yingchuan to rebel, it is no problem to regain Guan Yu's prestige in China. .

Because of this, in Jiangdong's three-pronged Northern Expedition, the left route was the first to send troops.

The other two routes were still waiting for the water flow to increase in summer. In March, Zhou Yu's army had already advanced for a month and sent troops to attack Xinye.

This place is really, really close to Xiangyang!

Moreover, the waters of the Han River have abundant water and smooth shipping. As long as Zhou Yu's army has both boat and division, there is no need to worry about logistical supplies.

Cao Jun's navy could not threaten his navy commanded by Zhou Yu.

Even if the navy leaves the Han River, follows the tributaries of the Han River, and enters the Yangtze River, it will be able to penetrate directly from Xinye and Tuoyang to Wancheng, the county of Nanyang. With Wancheng below, Nanyang will be divided into two, and more than [-] counties in the west will be Watch the wind and fall.

Even if it only achieved this result, the Northern Expedition of the Left Army could be considered a great success.

Expanding more than twenty counties at once was considered a great achievement even in the era of Emperor Gaozu.Han Xin attacked Qi, but he could only capture 72 of the city.

That is to say, Nanyang has experienced wars for a long time and its population has dropped sharply.If the Han Dynasty was at its peak, if Wancheng could be captured in this battle, it would mean that more than a million people could be captured at once.

After Zhou Yu's navy won its first battle in the Deng County area, defeating Cao's newly-established navy and beheading hundreds of people, everyone in the left army was high-spirited and complacent.

After winning the first battle, everyone was in a good mood, and their confidence in winning this battle was increasing.

Zhou Yunai summoned all the generals in the army on the warship. Everyone stood on the bow of the ship, facing the warm spring breeze in March, watching the warship chop through the waves, all looking high-spirited.

Zhou Yu's face was filled with a calm and confident smile, showing his elegant demeanor. He said calmly to the generals behind him: "The main force of Cao's army has been mobilized by Cao Cao to march north to resist Yuan Shao's attack. On the Nanyang and Yingchuan lines, the number is less than ten thousand, and Only Cao Hong supervises it. He is greedy for money and wants goods, has no talent and no virtue, and is very unpopular. It will be easy for us to defeat him."

"Therefore, as our army marches north, we should make use of our army's strengths and advance in parallel to join forces with Nanyang's powerful forces and form a sweeping force."

"The army marched north from the Han River. I took the main force and marched along the Tui River to Wan County. Then I went all the way out to Bishui, divided the counties into counties, and took the counties east of Nanyang. I then marched into Wuyin and Ye County to cover up Cao's army. .”

In fact, what Zhou Yu said was still cautious.

His situation along the way is even greater than what he said!

Yuan Shaoxing sent [-] troops south. The vanguard had already crossed Liyang and was attacking the Baima, Puyang, Cangting and Dong'a lines.

Yuan's army numbered [-], and the coalition was hundreds of miles away. Cao Jun had to assemble the absolute main force to resist Yuan Shao's army.

Where is the location of Hakuba?This is the southwest of Puyang City in Dongjun, already south of the Yellow River. If we march more than a hundred miles to the southwest, we will arrive at the place where the Kwantung Allied Forces allied themselves!
It is already within the territory of Chenliu, and will soon be close to the Luoyang line.Cangting and Dong'a are in the heart of Yanzhou.

With such a front that stretched for more than a hundred miles, Cao Jun had to deploy a large number of troops to form camps. If the army was not large enough, it would not be able to support the defense line.This will lead to Yuan Jun's breakthrough from other directions, and ultimately threaten Cao Jun's rear food route from both wings.

Although Yuan Shao's southward march did not divide his troops into three groups and fight thousands of miles across the ground like Jiangdong, but instead gathered one hundred thousand troops in one place, it did not mean that one hundred thousand troops stormed one place.

Except for Sun Quan, there are really few people who can do such a thing.

Even when Liu Bei fought the Battle of Yiling, the troops were divided into the north and south of the Yangtze River to attack different areas through such a narrow and steep passage.

It was just that the terrain prevented his troops from deploying, so they were defeated and returned.

It's hard to say whether Yuan Shao's military capabilities are stronger or weaker than Liu Bei's.

At least in a battle involving 10 people, Yuan Shao's deployment and vision were quite magnanimous.

The other generals in Yuan camp were not as good as Cao Cao. This time Yuan Shao went into battle in person.

Therefore, this military front put great pressure on Cao Cao, and he had to mobilize the most elite soldiers and generals under his command to resist Yuan Shao's army.

If Yuan Shao cannot be stopped, a large number of Wuhuan cavalry will march straight in, and the entire situation in Yanzhou and Yuzhou will be overturned!
With Yuan Shao's reputation, he sent his troops south. Once Cao Cao was defeated, other cities would surrender. This was something Sun Ce could not compare with.

And Cao Cao deployed so many strong generals, it became difficult for the generals of Cao's army to defend Sun Ce against Jiangdong's talents.

There is no way to use Cao Hong. Cao Cao really has no one else available.The western governor he favored most was naturally Xia Houyuan.It's a pity that this talented Xiahou was killed by Huang Zhongxian in the battle at Linhuai!
Cao Xing's other important generals, Cao Ren, are leading heavy troops to guard Cai and Ru areas to defend Sun Ce's main force. This cannot be done lightly.

Cao Cao's whole hope was that Cao Ren could win a complete victory in Runan. Not only that he could sweep Runan like he defeated Liu Bei, but he could at least stop the rampage of the Yellow Turban Army, the rebellion of Yuan's guests, and the offensive of Sun Ce's army.

This important task, to be honest, was like Mount Taishan to the top of Cao Ren.

After all, he was not facing rootless princes like Liu Bei, but Sun Ce and a series of famous generals under Sun Ce such as Lu Meng, Gan Ning, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Yu Jin, Xu Sheng, Zhou Tai, He Qi, etc. Jiang Biao was ten Half of the two tiger ministers and half of the five good generals gathered here to attack Cao Ren alone.

Among the generals of the Cao family, only Cao Ren is still able to defend this place.

Except for Cao Ren, the only other generals of the Cao family who can be used are Cao Hong and Cao Chun. Otherwise, Cao Cao would not be able to use General Xiahou to defend Nanyang.

Then there is no need to fight. With Xiahou Dun's military ability of repeated defeats, Zhou Yu can defeat Nanyang with overwhelming force.Perhaps the main force of Jiangdong Army has not yet set off, and Zhou Yu of the left route army has already reached Xu County, Cao Cao's seat.

Therefore, even if Cao Cao knew that Cao Hong was embarrassed to take on the important task, he still had to push him to the position of governor of the Western Front.

As for using a general from outside the Cao clan?Then Cao Cao wouldn't even consider it!

In this critical situation of life and death, Cao Cao could only and must use General Cao.

Using Cao Hong can at least buy him a period of time. If he uses generals with foreign surnames instead, these generals may lead their troops to surrender directly!

Yuan Shao had rebel generals Xu You and Zhang He, but Cao Cao didn't?
On the contrary, there were countless rebel generals under Cao Cao, and countless secretly wrote to Yuan Shao!
Historically, after the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao discovered countless letters of surrender written by his subordinates to Yuan Shao. The number was so large that Cao Cao, who had always been known for his ruthlessness, was unable to pursue them. He burned them with fire, saying: "When Shao is strong, I will not be alone." If you can't protect yourself, let alone everyone else!"

Cao Cao also knew his situation very well. He had always been unpopular, and many of his subordinates used it as a threat.

In this situation, if we use foreign generals, there will be countless generals like Yu Jin who surrendered to Jiangdong.

It's just that Cao Hong, an important general of the Cao family, has repeatedly proven that he is not the material to lead the army in battle.

He once led more than a thousand soldiers to Yangzhou to recruit troops for Cao Cao.At that time, Chen Wen, the governor of Yangzhou, had a good relationship with Cao Hong, so he helped Cao Hong recruit 2000 people from Lujiang Shangjia in Lujiang. Cao Hong went east to Danyang and recovered several thousand people.Then he led this huge army to meet Cao Cao in Longkang.

Since Cao Hong gave Cao Cao the most sponsorship in the early days, when Xiahou Dun served as the captain of Zhechong and led the prefect of Dongjun, Cao Hong also served as the captain of Yingyang, and then quickly moved to the rank of general Yangwu.

Judging from this position allocation, Cao Cao obviously planned to reuse Cao Hong as the commander-in-chief. However, his westward attack on the emperor failed, Liu Biao's southward expedition failed, and his battle with Zhang Xiu was even more unfavorable. He stationed in Ye County and was defeated. Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu invaded several times, forcing Cao Cao to send troops to Nanyang himself, and then quickly captured the Wuyin, Duyang, Wuyang, and Bowang areas of Nanyang.

However, Cao Hong, a general of the Cao family, was just like Xiahou Dun. He never won a battle or was promoted.

After Cao Cao divided Nanyang with Liu Biao through the emperor's mediation, he was moved from General Yangwu Zhonglang to General Xing Lifeng.

After completely occupying Nanyang, Cao Cao took the opportunity to completely turn his role as General Li Feng into his actual duties and gave him the seal and ribbon of General Li Feng.

The purpose of strengthening his power in this way is to enable him to assume important responsibilities in Nanyang and stabilize people's hearts.

It's just that he, General Li Feng, is not as prestigious as the other generals with titles in the Han Dynasty.

He was preoccupied with managing property and even started a loan sharking business in the army.

That is, the Zi Qian businessman who is often hated by the world today.

Under Cao Cao's rule, money and goods were not available, so he borrowed silk and silk.

He is also extremely courageous, and there is no one he dares not lend money to.

Historically, Cao Pi had become the eldest son of the East Palace and had even loaned him hundreds of pieces of silk.

The Han Dynasty has always had a tradition of lending money in this area. During the Seven Kings Rebellion, the Han Dynasty court did not have enough military support, and the dignified Taiwei Zhou Yafu had to bow his head and borrow money from Ziqian merchants.After the rebellion was successfully suppressed, the loan was repaid with interest.

Basically, when Zhu Xia ruled the Central Plains, the spirit of contract was very reliable. In the Song Dynasty, loan sharking became the same as real estate, which was the two major money-drawing industries at that time.

Lending loans to the military is one of the favorite things of these money merchants.

But the result of this is that the combat effectiveness of the army is low.

Cao Hong's actions in Nanyang made Cao's army almost as powerful as Zhao and Song's thieves.

When Zhou Yu was in Xiangyang, he knew that officials and soldiers from Nanyang were constantly fleeing southward.

That's why Zhou Yu had the confidence to advance troops so decisively. If he could go north along the Feishui River and have a decisive battle with Cao Chun's main force, it would be best to capture Wancheng in one battle.

If Cao Chun gets Cao Cao's guidance and deployment, and defends the city to block the main force of Jingxiang's army from Wancheng, then Zhou Yu's partial army will advance along Bishui, attack Wuyin and Bowang, and then cut off Wancheng. After the city.

In this case, the main force of the army will surround Cao's army in Wancheng, and the partial troops can march along Ye County and Kunyang, and enter Yingchuan to threaten Xu County.

If you retreat, you can attack Runan eastward, coordinate the main offensive of Jiangdong's army against Cao Ren, and threaten Cao's army's retreat and food routes.

After Zhou Yu finished talking about his deployment, he turned to look at the generals behind him and asked: "Everyone, who is willing to lead troops eastward and divide the counties for my army?"

Zhou Yu's route was also filled with stars, and most of the surrendered generals from the Jingzhou clan gathered here. As soon as he finished speaking, Li Yan and Kuai Yue stepped forward at the same time.

Li Yan said: "The soldiers gathered in the camp and went north. Without other strange roads, it was difficult to achieve success. I would like to lead five thousand cavalry, don't follow the Bi River, and collect the north and south of Biyang. After the light troops left Wancheng, I met the governor at Wancheng, this is also a strange thing."

Kuai Yue also took the initiative and said: "I am willing to go with you, join forces with powerful people, work together for a great cause, and seize the heart of Nanyang for the Marquis of Wu."

Marching from Bishui is actually to conquer the eastern counties of Nanyang. If we can connect with the local powerful, it will undoubtedly make the Northern Expedition twice the result with half the effort. Kuai Yue's reputation in Jingzhou is suitable for this task.

After all, he was still very powerful back then, helping Liu Biao to stand firm in Jingzhou by riding alone.

Zhou Yu nodded immediately and said: "Yes! Let Li Zhengfang be the main general, Kuai Yidu be the supervisor, supervise five thousand divisions, and have surprisingly light troops, and divide them into counties!"

(End of this chapter)