Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1382 Breaking the situation
Sima Yi felt that his decision to employ Guo Huai was absolutely correct.

Zhuge Liang guessed his thoughts too well. If he wanted to strike back, he had to get out of the other party's calculations, so Guo Huai became the variable.

He immediately said to Guo Huai: "Okay, in that case, I will stay here to hold Zhuge Liang back, and you take 10,000 soldiers and horses to Zhuyang to defeat Wei Yan. Then the two armies will meet and defeat Zhuge Liang with all our strength!"

After hearing this, Guo Huai stood up and bowed, saying, "I obey the general's orders!"

While Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang were confronting each other in Jiangling and Fangling, Yuan Xi had already led his troops from Luoyang and was approaching Tongguan by both land and sea.

There are actually several levels along the way. If the strength of both sides is similar, it would be difficult to fight.

Luoyang is 500 miles away from Tongguan and is connected by the ancient Xiaohan Road. Xiao is Xiaoshan, a branch of the eastern section of the Qinling Mountains, and Han is Hangu Pass, which is divided into Qin Pass and Han Pass.

It is mainly divided into two sections, the front half is the intersection of Luoyang and Sanmenxia. The land marching route is the North and South Xiao Road. The important nodes in the middle are all on the North Xiao Road, including Han Hangu Pass, Gushui Village and Shihao Village, which are also the first choice for marching in the past dynasties.

The second half is from Sanmenxia through Qin Hangu Pass to Tongguan, with no forks in the road.

Cao Wei's defense was mainly deployed along the checkpoints on the Qiaohan Road to block the Jin army. As the leader of Cao Wei, Xiahou Shang had no great generals under his command, but he had many second-generation core generals, and the soldiers had sufficient food and fodder. It can be said that he had made very thorough preparations.

However, when the fight started, Xiahou Shang found that he had thought too well.

Opposite him was the Jin army general Zhang He, which was fine. Xiahou Shang believed that although Zhang He was a threat, the two sides were fighting on the narrow Qiaohan Road, which was a head-on attack, and there were not many chances for him to attack. As long as he built high camps, advanced step by step, and adopted a defensive posture, even a strong army like the Jin army would not be able to do anything to him in a short time.

However, he did not expect that the Jin army led by Zhang He was not in a hurry to fight, but relied on fortifications and siege equipment to slowly wear down Xiahou Shang's troops and morale.

At that time, Xiahou Shang's military advisors were Xin Pi, who was re-employed, and Du Xi, who was favored by the younger generation.

In fact, this pair of people is no less capable than Sima Yi in terms of planning ability alone, and they did come up with many useful strategies in the early battles, helping Cao's army to temporarily resist the Jin army.

However, the variables soon arrived. The Jin army's land attack was not as fierce as expected. Du Xi was the first to notice it. He said to Xiahou Shang: "General, something is wrong."

"Although the Jin army has Luoyang at its back, and logistical supplies are easy, they are moving too slowly."

"I wonder if they are trying to divert attention?"

Xiahou Shang's eyes flashed, "Feint to the east and attack in the west?"

"You mean, they will go around to Sanmenxia in Shan County via Nanxiao Road and cut off our retreat?"

"But we have already deployed spies on the Nanxiao Road. If they discover the whereabouts of the Jin army, they will definitely rush north and pass through the mountains and forests to report the news directly. No matter how you look at it, they will arrive earlier than the Jin army. It is impossible that we still know nothing about it."

The Wei army is now located at Hangu Pass. Over the past few days, the two armies have fought back and forth several times, but after the repairs, the Hangu Pass is stronger than the average city defense, so the Jin army has not been able to break through so far.

Du Xi said, "It's not the Nanxiao Road, it could be the Yellow River in the north."

Xin Pi frowned and asked, "The Yellow River?"

"Haven't we discussed this before? The water level of the Yellow River is very high during the flood season this year. Even with the capabilities of the Jin Army's steamboats, it is difficult to go upstream. Moreover, there are several stairs with huge drops in the middle. It is unlikely that the Jin Army's ships can get around to our rear."

Du Xi said, "I thought so at first, but these days, I am increasingly suspicious that the Jin army's attack was a feint."

"It is indeed difficult to go upstream in the Yellow River during the flood season, but what if the other party goes downstream?"

"I have heard that the Jin army attacked Bingzhou and occupied the Hetao Plain. At the same time, they built water conservancy projects and diverted the Yellow River. The previous battle in Yecheng used the Bingzhou diversion strategy to defeat the strategy of digging the river first."

Xiahou Shang frowned and said, "You mean, this time they will use the same method to slow down the flow of the Yellow River and then flow upstream?"

Du Xi said, "It would take many people to divert the Yellow River, and it would be too much trouble for the Jin army."

"It's actually very simple. They only need to build a dock and a shipyard in the Hetao Plain, then they can build ships and train the navy. Then they can go downstream and block our retreat!"

Xin Pi said, "This may be difficult. Not to mention the turbulent current of the Yellow River, there is a huge drop in elevation in places like Sanmenxia. Their fleet will be stuck there and unable to move."

Du Xi said, "They don't need to go to Sanmenxia at all. You know, the corner where the Yellow River turns from north to south to east to west is Tongguan!"

"If the Jin army sends its main force to attack there, it will be difficult for the Tongguan defenders to resist. If Tongguan is lost, it is only 300 miles away from Chang'an. Why should we fight another 500 miles and go to Tongguan step by step?" Xiahou Shang's face changed drastically after hearing this, and he said, "Your guess makes sense. How should we deal with it now?"

"If it's true, Tongguan might have been lost by now!"

Xin Pi thought for a moment and said, "Although it is indeed possible, the situation may not be that bad."

"Not to mention that the Hetao Plain lacks the huge trees needed to build ships, building a fleet would require a huge amount of manpower and resources, and it would not be accomplished overnight."

"Let's take a step back. Even if they build ships, the soldiers are untrained and unsuitable for naval warfare. In the end, they will still have to land and attack Tongguan. And how many siege weapons can such a fleet carry?"

"And even if the Jin army takes Tongguan, they will still have to face attacks from the defenders near Chang'an. If we can get back in time, the enemy will be caught in the dilemma of being attacked from both sides."

"Even if we are unable to rush back, we can notify General Sima in the south and ask him to send troops back to support us."

Xiahou Shang pondered for a moment and said, "We can't count on him. They have their own difficulties. Maybe they are the main force of the Jin army."

"We must first find a way to break the impasse. Now we can roughly determine that the group that left Luoyang is most likely a feint attack."

"If that's the case, I will send my generals out to fight and test how many soldiers the other side has!"

The next morning, the Wei soldiers broke through the pass and attacked the Jin army camp. Neither side gave in, and a melee ensued.

Yuan Xi, who was waiting in the rear, was quite surprised when he heard the news, "Does the Wei army have such courage?"

"Or maybe you don't have enough food and want to take a gamble?"

He didn't have Zhuge Liang with him now, but Yang Xiu. Seeing Yuan Xi asking this question, Yang Xiu thought for a moment and said, "Is it possible that the Wei army wants to test our strength?"

"In the past half month, the Jin army's offensive has not been fierce. The Wei army probably thinks that we are not the main force, so they took the initiative to attack, trying to find flaws here, or even want to retake Luoyang?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi laughed and said, "If that's true, then you look down on us too much."

"By the way, where is the Yellow River Fleet?"

Yang Xiu said, "The troops in the Hetao Plain are still on standby, while those in the north are secretly marching from the north bank to Sanmenxia in Shan County, where they will temporarily set up simple boats, go down the river, land on the south bank, and then surprise attack the Wei army from the north."

"But the terrain on the north bank of the Yellow River is complex, and we have to avoid the eyes and ears of Wei State, so the march is slower than expected. Adding the time required to build the ship, it will take at least half a month."

"Although the Wei army set up checkpoints along the Yellow River, they would never have thought that we would build ships on the spur of the moment this time."

Yuan Xi thought that this was a real surprise, because it was completely beyond common sense. From the perspective of the Wei army, the north bank of the Yellow River did not have the conditions for shipbuilding.

But this plan was made several years ago. Zhang Xun took over the Black Mountain Army from Yang Feng. It seemed that nothing was done in the past few years, but in fact it was transformed into an engineering team.

In this area of ​​Heishan Bingzhou, the Heishan army has been building roads and cutting down trees over the years. On the north bank of the Yellow River, which has a drop of more than ten feet, they have secretly dug several secret passages leading directly to the river. Behind the passages are extremely hidden factories.

Some of these workshops were making ships, and some were making siege equipment. Most of them could be disassembled, assembled, and hidden. In addition, the Wei army on the south bank could not land on the north bank to check because of the height difference, so Xiahou Shang did not get any accurate information about the Jin army.

The main reason is that this approach is really too unreasonable. Who would have thought that the Jin army would use several times the manpower and material resources to do such a seemingly extravagant and wasteful thing? Wouldn't it be better to use this energy and financial resources to recruit soldiers and expand the army?
Little did they know that this was exactly where Yuan Xi's vision was different from that of ordinary people. The reason he did this was because he had already set his sights on the years after defeating the State of Wei. Transforming the Yellow River in advance was also part of the plan. After all, the flooding of the Yellow River would cause greater damage. In this case, it would be better to act early.

Zhang Xun's Black Mountain Army came for this purpose. The secretly dug north bank channel can be used to discharge flood water during flood season and irrigate the coastal land. It is an important part of future water conservancy facilities.

Another purpose of Yuan Xi was to transform the combat soldiers into engineering soldiers in a planned way so that they could be used in the peacetime. This would avoid the situation in later generations where the military system became too powerful due to the division of land, and the power of soldiers with military merits and nobles became greater, eventually leading to the rebellion of the local military governors.

The Tang Dynasty prospered because of the Fubing system, and also declined because of the Fubing system. This lesson was extremely painful, so Yuan Xi always controlled the number of soldiers under his command so that he could welcome the arrival of peacetime with a reasonable number.

The plan this time was for the Black Mountain Army to build half-finished ships and hide them, and Xu Huang would lead the troops to rush to the local area to assemble the ships, and then attack Xiahou Shang's rear and block him at the Qiaohan Road.

Now he said to Yang Xiu: "Since the Wei army wants to test us, then we will play along with them. Anyway, the victory or defeat on Prime Minister Zhuge's side has not been decided."

"As long as Gongming Nalu finishes assembling the ships, it will be time for us to take action."

(End of this chapter)