Xiang Yu fights the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 86
Sun Jian made preparations to cross the river in advance. He first sent some small vanguard troops across the river to explore the general situation on the other side of the river, and found that Han Sui did not deploy any defenses on the other side of the Yellow River, and basically left no one behind. In fact, after crossing the Yellow River, the troops had already entered the scope of Jincheng County, which can be regarded as officially arriving at the boundary of Liangzhou.

To the north of Jincheng County is Wuwei County, and to the northwest is Xiping County. In the entire Jincheng County, there is actually only a slightly larger city called Yunwu. It is hundreds of miles away from the due west, and a large area to the north is sparsely populated. Among them, the due north of Lanzhou is a relatively balanced area with not particularly high altitude, but the climate in this area is relatively dry , the living environment is not very good.

On the other hand, in the north direction of Yunwu City are the remaining veins of the Qilian Mountains. There is a river passing through the mountains, but the overall altitude is very high. It is extremely difficult to travel northward from here. May choose to go here.

Sun Jian's only choice is to cross the Yellow River, then go all the way north, and after crossing the Wushao Ridge, enter the Hexi Corridor. The terrain of the Hexi Corridor is relatively flat, and then continue walking all the way to the northwest. Came to Wuwei City.

To the east of Wuwei City is the Tengger Desert, to the west is the Qilian Mountains, and Wuwei goes northwest to Zhangye and Jiuquan. These are all within the sphere of influence of Liangzhou. After Han Sui's main force retreated, a considerable part of the main force He stayed near Yunwu City in Jincheng County, where Han Sui himself was also located at this time.

Then, in the large area north of Lanzhou, only a small part of the army was left distributed around several relatively small settlements such as Baiyin, Yongdeng, and Tianzhu. Their role is mainly for investigation and defense. When faced with a large-scale army, they will decisively loot the local city, and then all retreat.

Then another part of Han Sui's main force gathered in Wuwei City. This is the key point guarding the Hexi Corridor. If you don't pass through here, you can't enter the hinterland of Xiliang. Therefore, if you want to completely defeat Han Sui, you must first win Wuwei City. .

Although the distance between Wuwei City and Yunwu City is still hundreds of miles, because Han Sui's main force is Xiliang cavalry who are good at fighting in the mountains, his troops can basically travel to and from other places within two or three days. One side, so that no matter which city is attacked, the other side can provide timely support.

Similar to Sun Jian's judgment, Han Sui did not deploy too many troops north of the Yellow River, but because Yunwu City is located about ten degrees northwest of Lanzhou, and the surrounding area is dominated by mountains, it can be regarded as an easy to defend and difficult to attack After Han Sui occupied this place, he could send cavalry to attack Sun Jian and his troops crossing the Yellow River in a short period of time, but Sun Jian could not threaten the safety of Yunwu City in a short period of time.

If he doesn't take Yunwu City, he chooses to go north directly, cross Wushao Ridge to the Hexi Corridor, then he may be trapped by Xiliang cavalry from Yunwu City and Wuwei City, It is equivalent to saying that the two cities have formed a cornering situation here, making it difficult for the attacker to look at each other head to tail.

Of course, Sun Jian didn't realize this at this time. He didn't expect that it would not be so difficult for Han Sui to support each other between these two cities. It is much more difficult to mediate between them.

Because Sun Jian's idea of ​​crossing the river in advance was based on the fact that Han Sui's troops would be caught off guard, he either concentrated his forces to surprise Yunwu City, or traveled northward at the fastest speed, then crossed the Hexi Corridor, and Take Wuwei City before Han Sui is ready, but obviously the latter is extremely difficult. As Wuwei City is a key pass in the Hexi Corridor, how can Han Sui not deploy heavy troops, and the distance is very far away, How much strength can the soldiers leave behind to continue attacking the city after a long-distance raid?

Besides, the number of Sun Jian's troops at this time is less than 1 at best. How can he easily capture Wuwei City, which is guarded by at least 2 people? So now Sun Jian actually has two choices. One is to wait for the opportunity and not rush to attack. First, use a boat to transport all your troops across the river, and then help Zhang Wen, Xiang Yu and even Dong Zhuo's troops cross the river smoothly, and then decide together whether to attack Yunwu City first or go north to attack Wuwei City, and even when the time comes You can choose to split your troops and do both operations at the same time.

The second choice is that Sun Jian will continue to carry out his plan to attack Han Sui by surprise, and directly attack Yunwu City with incomplete forces. This is actually a kind of gamble. One is to bet that Han Sui is not in Yunwu City. Leaving a particularly large number of troops, the second is to bet that Han Sui's troops in Yunwu City were not prepared for defense, and did not realize that Sun Jian would suddenly launch an attack at this time. These two conditions must be met for Sun Jian to have a chance to attack quickly. Take Yunwu City.

Otherwise, without any of these conditions, it would be impossible for Sun Jian to take down Yunwu City, which occupies an advantageous geographical location, by means of a surprise attack. So what choice would Sun Jian make?

After a little hesitation, Sun Jian decided not to wait for all his troops to cross the river, but to lead an army of less than 5000 to directly attack Yunwu City. What he needed was speed, so these troops only took three grains of food. For five days, the remaining food supply will be provided by follow-up troops.

However, Sun Jian's decision was firmly opposed by some of his soldiers. The reason is very simple, that is, it is too risky to do so. How could an old veteran with rich combat experience like Sun Jian make such a mistake made by an inexperienced general?
However, Sun Jian does not think that he has made any mistakes. Just like his own name, there is a Jian in it. His character is also very firm and decisive when he makes a decision. It is useless for anyone to come and tell him. .

He repeatedly emphasized to his soldiers that he was the one who made the decision, and asked others not to say anything more, just obey the orders he gave.

The soldiers under Sun Jian also seemed to know Sun Jian's stubborn temper, so no one dared to say anything more. Anyway, the final result may not necessarily be bad. Now they don't know much about the situation in Yunwu City. If you can't fight, you will be fine if you retreat and don't fight.

(End of this chapter)