Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 242 Helpless to retreat
With the cooperation of Liu Xie, the undercurrent in Xuchang gradually surged, not only Fu Wan, but also loyal people lurking under the water.

News of the surging undercurrent in Xuchang reached Cao Cao in Xiangyang. At the same time, Cao Cao also received battle reports from Jiangling.

In the inner hall where Liu Biao used to discuss matters, Cao Cao summoned all his men to discuss matters.

Cao Cao passed the battle report of Jiangling to everyone in the hall and said: "The two Liu brothers besieged the city of Jiangling for more than a month. The number of soldiers and horses gradually increased, and the number of soldiers and horses gradually increased to about [-]. Under Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Liu Pan and other generals have defeated Yiling, Zhijiang, Linju and other outlying counties, but Jiangling is still holding on."

The Jiangling offensive and defensive battle in this plane is much simpler than in the original history.With few soldiers and horses, Cao Ren led his troops out of the city to fight Liu Bei, and then fought Zhang Fei in the Battle of Yiling. Neither of them gained any advantage.Moreover, the soldiers and horses from Jingnan gathered towards Er Liu, and today there are [-] soldiers and horses.

Yiling is located to the west of Jiangling and is the strategic gateway to Yizhou.It is neither a north-south passage connecting Xiangyang nor a strategic location. As for why a battle was fought.

The reason is not difficult to understand. Liu Zhang, an old boy, kept sending food to Cao Ren.When Cao Cao marched into Jiangdong, Liu Zhang was afraid of Cao Cao's military strength, so he sent grain and grass from Yizhou to Cao Cao, allowing Cao Cao to raise 10,000+ troops to fight Huo Jun.

In the Battle of Chibi in history, Cao Cao fought with Liu Biao's troops and ate the money and food of the two states of Jing and Yi.Even if they were defeated, the main force of the northerners was still there, but they had suffered a lot of losses due to the plague.

Even though Cao Cao was defeated, Liu Zhang seemed ready to help Cao Ren.Therefore, Yiling, as the main route in and out of Shu, had to be cut off by the two Lius. How could Cao Ren continue to receive Liu Zhang's help.

After telling everyone about the battle in Jiangling, Cao Cao said: "Guan Yu, Mi Fang, and Liu Bei's orders went north to Hefei. Sun Guan, Lu Qian, Zang Ba and others will retreat to Hefei. Suddenly Zhuge Liang colluded with Chen Lan and Chen Ce, Lei Xu and other Jianghuai bandit commanders seem to be trying to cause trouble, and they are lonely and worried."

"This~"

All the civil and military officials were whispering, and they were quite worried about the current situation in Jiangling.

Yang Xiu observed Cao Cao's words and said in unison: "Reporting to the Prime Minister, Huo Jun's [-] soldiers and horses are stationed on Yuliang Island, but they are not going to attack. The second Liu soldiers have more than [-] soldiers surrounding Jiangling. At that time, Guan Yu and Mi Fang led their troops. Advance towards Jianghuai. The current situation is unsafe, so I think it is better to abandon Jiangling and let Cao Nanjun lead his troops to withdraw to Xiangfan."

Cao Cao remained silent and looked around at the people in the hall.

Cao Hong was reluctant to leave Jiangling and said: "Prime Minister, if our army withdraws now, it would be a pity if Jiangling falls into the hands of Liu Liu!"

"Resumption of war?"

Xia Houyuan asked in reply: "If the war resumes, we should lead the Seventh Army southward, and we need to divide our troops to garrison Xiangfan."

Everyone was reluctant to resume the war with Er Liu.They finally escaped from Jianghan, and now they no longer want to go south to fight.

Xun You coughed and said, "It is better to withdraw from Jiangling sooner rather than later. We have few troops in Jiangling, and the enemy has more troops and horses. Unless we send more troops to Jiangling, Jiangling will be difficult to protect. In your opinion, we can withdraw our troops from Jiangling and then hold on to it." Xiangfan, moved the people of Hannan to consolidate the counties of Nanyang."

Historically, after the coalition forces of Sun and Liu defeated Cao Cao in Chibi, the Battle of Nanjun lasted for more than a year, which was related to both Sun Quan and Liu Bei.Liu Bei was eager to capture the four counties in Jingnan, and Sun Quan sent tens of thousands of troops to attack Hefei.

In more than a year, Zhou Yu, with only [-] to [-] troops, launched the Battle of Yiling and the Battle of Juebei Road, forcing Cao Ren to retreat by cutting off external supplies to Jiangling.

However, it is completely different now. Liu Qi divided his forces to capture Jiangling, Liu Bei fully cooperated, and Huo Jun raised [-] naval troops to threaten Xiangfan.Cao Ren's situation was quite difficult, otherwise he would not have sent several letters to Cao Cao asking for help.And as time goes on, Liu Qi integrates Jingnan troops and horses and will dispatch more troops to besiege Jiangling.

As Xun You said, unless more troops are sent to Jiangling, Jiangling will not be able to defend it as time goes by.

Cao Cao pursed his lips and said unwillingly: "What you all said is very reasonable. We should withdraw the troops from Jiangling and increase the garrison at Xiangfan to use the danger of Xiangyang to defend Hannan from the enemy."

"This?"

Cao Hong was reluctant and said: "Prime Minister, our army suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Chrysostom, and now we have abandoned Jiangling..."

Cao Cao raised his hand to interrupt and said: "Although I don't want to abandon the cities in Jiangling, due to the turmoil in the Jianghuai River, I have to mobilize troops and horses to help them, so I have no choice but to withdraw our troops now. When the Central Plains recovers, I and you will go to Jiangling again." promise!"

After a pause, Cao Cao said: "Today's withdrawal from Jiangling should be discussed in depth. Er Liu stationed troops outside Jiangling City, Gu Gu worried that Zi Xiao would lead his troops to withdraw, and it would be difficult to retreat intact."

"Wenhe, Gongda?"

Jia Xu, who had lowered his eyes, seemed to have been awakened. He raised his head, raised his hands and said: "Xu thought that we should send troops and horses south to meet Caonan County. The troops and horses have reached Jiangling. With the strong ability of our army in the field, Jingchu troops and horses will not dare to pursue them deeply. .”

Cao Cao frowned slightly and said: "Forty thousand soldiers and horses in the north of the Yangtze River. Gu has mobilized two generals, Zhang Liao and Yu Jin, to lead ten thousand soldiers and horses to support Jianghuai. Looking at the soldiers and horses now, only [-] soldiers and horses in the north of the Yangtze River are left, as well as the soldiers in Xiangyang City. There are more than [-] horses. If you want to pick up your son Xiao, I only have [-] soldiers and horses to use. The rest of the troops and horses have other uses."

Xun You took up the conversation and said: "I'd like to inform you, Prime Minister, that Xiangyang has the power of mountains and rivers and is extremely steep. With thousands of soldiers, it can defend tens of thousands of enemies. Now it is better to send Xiangfan soldiers and horses south and join the tens of thousands of people in the north of the Yangtze River." , to rescue Cao Nan County. At that time, our army could number [-] people. Although Liu Liu took advantage of the victory, they did not dare to pursue our army deeply!"

"What if Huo Jun goes south to attack our army with Liu's army?" Cao Cao asked.

Xun You pondered for a while and then said: "We can use a bluff strategy and send soldiers south to increase the number of stoves, so that Liu Liu is afraid but dare not pursue them deeply. We can also send thousands of cavalry to patrol the Han River. Huo Jun went deep into Xiangfan alone. Don’t dare to leave the ship easily.”

"What do Wen He think?" Cao Cao asked.

Jia Xu stroked his beard and said: "Jiangling is rich and prosperous, so it is a pity to withdraw troops from the city. Liu Bei always regarded himself as benevolent and caring for the people, and Liu Qi was the lord of Jingzhou. When Xu thought he could let Cao Nan County withdraw its troops, he burned the city with fire. [-] Liu Jianzhi, how dare he lead his army to pursue him, he can only rush into the city to save the people!"

"Except for soldiers, armor, bows and crossbows, all money, food, and baggage can be discarded. Take five days' worth of food and march northward to join the troops and horses going south. We should return to Xiangyang together. As for Huo Jun's troops, we can follow the advice of Military Advisor Xun. Liu and Liu don't dare to pursue him deeply, and there are cavalry and pawns on the side, so Huo Jun can't accomplish anything big, so it shouldn't be a big worry."

Jia Xu took advantage of Liu Bei's character traits and suggested the strategy of burning the city to slow down Liu Bei's pursuit of troops.Without Er Liu's troops to pursue him, it would be difficult for Huo Jun's 2 men to prevent Cao Ren from withdrawing to Xiangyang.

After all, the shortcoming of Huo Jun's tent is that he dare not stray too far from the boat.The army fought alone deep on land. After a long battle, the supply of food and grass was insufficient, and it was only a matter of time before they were defeated.

"good!"

When Cao Cao heard about Jia Xu and Xun You's plan, he was not very happy and said: "I have ordered the three generals Zhang He, Zhu Ling, and Li Tong to lead their troops southward and be sure to catch up with Zi Xiaode when he returns to Xiangfan. The people of Jianghan, whoever can Those who move north will all move to Nanyang, Nanxiang, Zhangling and other counties."

As he spoke, Cao Cao changed the topic and said: "We will order Manchu's three thousand soldiers to garrison Xiangyang, and Xu Huang's seven thousand soldiers to guard Fancheng. When Jiangling's soldiers and horses return, they will be led by Zixiao to guard the two cities of Xiangfan. Now we have Xuchang, Letter from Yecheng, Xianbei and the Southern Xiongnu were not in compliance, so it was difficult for me to stay in Xiangfan for a long time, and the rest of the civil and military forces returned to my country with me."

"promise!"

When everyone finished discussing, Cao Hong stayed and said: "Prime Minister, the main force of the Xiakou Seventh Army is still there, and the current strength is insufficient. New troops from the Central Plains can also be recruited. Why withdraw them so easily? If Huo Jun and Liu Bei fight with our army in the field, there will be With the Prime Minister’s command, victory may not be impossible!”

Cao Cao took out two letters from his arms, handed them to Cao Hong, and motioned for him to open them and read them.

After reading the contents of the letter, Cao Hong's expression changed drastically and he looked up at Cao Cao.But I saw that even though Cao Cao was anxious, his expression was calm as usual, without any sign of anxiety.

Cao Cao clasped his hands behind his waist and said calmly: "There are rumors circulating in Xuchang City today. Some say that Gu was defeated and died, and some said that Gu was besieged by Huo Jun in Xiangyang. As rumors spread, the emperor had other plans, and Gu had to return to Xuchang. To calm everyone’s hearts.”

Cao Hong looked unhappy and said: "If the Prime Minister hadn't raised troops to greet us from the west, I don't know whose hands the emperor would have died. Today, the Emperor does not care about the kindness of the Prime Minister and instead carries out conspiracy. It is really hateful!"

Cao Cao lost about [-] generals at Jinkou, and also killed Le Jin, Cheng Yu, Cao Chun, Lu Zhao and other generals in the battle. He was already distressed, how could he give up the city of Jiangling so easily.However, an undercurrent surged in Xuchang, and Cao Cao had to go back to calm everyone's hearts.

The lesser of two evils, Jiangling is far less important than his fundamentals.Abandoning Jiangling now shows Cao Cao's decisiveness, but it is also Cao Cao's helpless move.

　I'm late
　　
　
(End of this chapter)