Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 302: The religious power breaks the city
Jianghuai, Shouchun.

In the assembly hall, the one-eyed Marquis of Xia was holding his sword on the couch. More than ten senior Jianghuai officials, including Wen Hui, the governor of Yangzhou, Lu Gong, the governor of Yuzhou, Liu Ye, who joined the army, and Sun Quan, who guarded the army, were sitting on the left and right.

After the Battle of Bowang, Cao Cao appreciated Xiahou Dun's loyalty, so he mostly let him stay in the rear.Only when necessary can they be sent to fight.

For example, in recent years, the only war he was ordered to fight was Wei Gu's rebellion in Hedong.However, by the time Xiahou Dun's troops arrived, the Hedong rebellion had been resolved by Zhong Yao.

With such a meager record, it is difficult not to question whether Xiahou Dun can rescue Hefei.However, not only did everyone doubt, Xiahou Dun also doubted himself.

"Cough cough!"

Xiahou Dun coughed a few times, attracted everyone's attention, and said: "The Prime Minister ordered Dun to lead the army south to rescue Hefei. However, Huo Jun's military strategy is extraordinary. I wonder how you can teach me?"

Wen Hui hesitated a little and said: "Huo Jun built a weir to collect water, hoping to divert fertile water to the city. Judging from the water conditions of the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, the rainy season will soon come, and time waits for us not to wait. The general should rescue him as soon as possible."

Liu Ye frowned and thought, and said: "The Prime Minister ordered soldiers and horses from Xuzhou and Yuzhou to go south to rescue. However, the Xuzhou coast is attacked by the enemy general Mi Fang. If we only use Yuzhou soldiers and horses to go south now, I am afraid it will be difficult to defeat Huo Jun."

After a pause, Liu Ye continued: "Huo Jun sent Mi Fang north to the Xuzhou coast to contain the Jianghuai troops, making it difficult for us to assemble heavy troops to rescue Hefei. If we rush to send a few troops south, we may be defeated by Huo Jun. Huo Jun's intention Obviously, our military cannot act recklessly."

Xia Houdun frowned in thought and said: "According to what you said, Hefei is in an emergency and must be saved, but there are only [-] to [-] troops and horses available. I wonder if you can teach me a strategy to defeat Huo Jun's method."

Liu Ye stroked his beard and thought, and said in a deep voice: "In order to break Huo Jun's containment, it is necessary to gather heavy troops and go south, so that Huo Jun can retreat without fighting."

"Where did the soldiers and horses come from?" Xiahou Dun asked.

"Xuzhou has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, so we can send troops." Liu Ye said.

Xiahou Dun looked puzzled and said: "Since joining the army, I know that Mi Fang is harassing the Xuzhou seaside, why do you say this?"

Liu Ye smiled and said: "Xuzhou's seaside is only a small problem, and Hefei's success or failure is related to the Jianghuai River. As Ye expected, Mi Fang's troops must be partial troops, and Xuzhou has tens of thousands of elite soldiers. Now we will send tens of thousands of elite soldiers to the west to Shou. Spring, why not?"

Wen Hui looked at Xiahou Dun and said: "The idea of ​​joining the army is not unreasonable, but I am afraid that Zang Ba, Sun Guan, Wu Dun and others are worried about their future affairs and are unwilling to send troops south to Shouchun."

Xiahou Dun's one eye showed a look of deep understanding. Zang Ba, Sun Guan, Wu Dun and other Xuzhou warlords were not sergeants under Cao Cao's account. They were more independent at their disposal.In the past, when Xuzhou was at peace, they were willing to send troops.Now that my home is being attacked, how dare I send troops to help so easily?

"otherwise!"

Sun Quan shook his head and said: "If he is coming, Xuzhou's troops and horses may be difficult to mobilize; but if the general arrives, Xuzhou's troops and horses may be mobilized."

After hearing what Sun Quan said, everyone became thoughtful.Xiahou Dun seemed to understand why Cao Cao sent him as the coach to rescue Hefei.

Xiahou Dun's military strategy may not be good, but he is one of the major shareholders of Cao Cao's fortune. He has a high status and is highly valued by Cao Cao. He is not an ordinary general.

If someone else gave the order, Zang Ba and Sun Guan might find excuses to evade it.But Xiahou Dun ordered, no matter what, Zang Ba, Sun Guan, Wu Dun and others did not dare to disobey.

Cao Cao chose Xiahou Dun as his general, seemingly choosing a man with mediocre military abilities.But in fact, Cao Cao chose a general who could barely integrate Jianghuai's military forces.If Xia Houyuan comes, he is defeated twice by Huo Jun. Do you think the Xuzhou warlord will take advantage of him?

Others did not understand Cao Cao's idea of ​​​​employing people in a short time. Only Sun Quan noticed and realized it.

Xiahou Dun looked at Sun Quan with his one eye, nodded appreciatively, and said: "Today, the two states of Henan and Yang have contracted 6000 soldiers and horses. If Xuzhou can mobilize more than [-] people, we have contracted [-] soldiers and horses to go south. At that time, there were thousands of soldiers from Hefei, and with the response from both inside and outside, even if Huo Jun's army was unparalleled, Hefei's military difficulties could still be overcome!"

Wen Hui was still worried and said: "If we can mobilize [-] soldiers from Xuzhou and mobilize a large number of troops to go south, we may be able to relieve Hefei's difficulties. However, it will take time to mobilize soldiers and horses from Xuzhou. By the time the army moves south, it may be spring. Hefei will be in a hurry for a long time." Trapped within the enemy's siege, I am afraid that the morale of the army has been weakened."

"Don't worry you!"

Liu Ye pondered for a while and said: "Everyone thinks that Huo Jun's army is strong and there is no hope of relief, so he should not fight hastily. He needs to wait for the Xuzhou army to arrive. However, in Ye's opinion, why not be a virtuous general and send forward troops to press forward? Hefei, send agents into the city, inform the military situation, and order Hefei to hold on."

With that said, Liu Ye handed over to Xiahou Dun and said confidently: "When the Eastern Army arrives, the general will select the elite as the vanguard and use Hefei as the response, both internally and externally. The siege of Hefei can be broken, and Huo Jun will be defeated!"

Xiahou Dun sighed while stroking his palms, and said: "Zi Yang is an outstanding strategist, and he is not a talented person who can join the army. If he can solve Hefei's difficulties now, Dun should recommend Zi Yang to the prime minister."

Xiahou Dun's high status and respect in Cao Cao's army was mainly due to the fact that he recommended talented and virtuous people to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao often promoted them.

"Thank you, General!" Liu Ye said gratefully.

Xia Houdun looked around at everyone and said in a deep voice: "Now, following Ziyang's strategy, the generals in Yuzhou will gather at Shaopi and march towards Chengde. If Huo Jun sends troops to invite a fight, we will hold our ground without fighting until reinforcements from Xuzhou arrive."

"No!" Everyone responded.
-
The news that Xiahou Dun's troops were heading south was quickly detected by scouts, who then sent the information to Huo Jun.

"Captain, the construction of the river weir has been completed. The sergeants will build embankments tomorrow to intercept the fertilizer water. When the rainy season in the Yangtze River and Huaihe River comes, the fertilizer water rises and the river weir is full of water, the weir can be destroyed to irrigate the city. Even if the city of Hefei is strong due to heavy floods, , and cannot be blocked."

Huang Zhong followed Huo Jun and introduced the progress of the weir construction project to Huo Jun.

Diverting fertilizer and water to irrigate Hefei City may seem easy, but in fact it is a big project.Compared with its surroundings, Hefei is indeed low-lying, but it is high for fertilizer and water. Therefore, diverting fertilizer and water to the city must change the direction of the river.

A common method to change the direction of a river is to build embankments to artificially raise the terrain downstream, making it difficult for the river water to flow downstream and can only overflow to both sides.

To guide the direction of the river, it is necessary to build a dam and dig a river channel on the river bank that is lower than the Feishui water level and higher than the city of Hefei.

If you want to use flooding, you often need to build river weirs to continuously accumulate the river water flowing into the river. The more the better.When the water volume reached a certain level, the river weir was artificially destroyed and rushed towards Hefei City.

Huo Jun stopped on the river weir and looked around. The terrain in the west of the city was flat and low-lying, and the river weir was a high point built up by humans.Although he couldn't see the situation inside Hefei City, he could see the terrain outside Hefei City.

There are [-] sergeants stationed outside the river weir, and there are all kinds of defensive fortifications such as Juma, Lujiao, Huluo, etc. These are to prevent the defenders in Hefei City from breaking out and destroying the progress of building the river weir.

Huo Jun put his hands behind his waist and asked, "Has Zhang Liao attacked since today?"

Huang Zhong stood with his sword in hand and said: "To the Commander-in-Chief, since our army built the river weir, Zhang Liao has been out of the city to attack many times, either at night or early in the morning. Many of the soldiers were killed and the river weir was destroyed a lot. However, the Commander-in-Chief sent Zilong. The general assisted in the defense, so Zhang Liao did not dare to attack."

Huo Jun held the white whip in his hand and said: "Although the old general and General Zilong both belong to the Chinese army, the soldiers and horses of the Chinese army are also different. The soldiers and horses in Zilong's tent belong to the lord, so they are elite soldiers. The old general's soldiers Most of the horses are self-controlled, and the armor and bows and crossbows have not changed for several years."

Huo Jun's words seemed to be talking about the eliteness of their troops, but they were actually reminding Huang Zhong of his current embarrassing situation.

After the unification of Wu and Chu, Huang Zhong, as a general who had supported Liu Pan, was stripped of his post as prefect by Liu Bei and incorporated into the Chinese military system.After being incorporated into the Chinese Army, Liu Bei allowed Huang Zhong to retain his troops out of stability considerations.Huang Zhong didn't realize anything and continued to take charge of the original troops calmly.Under this situation, although they all belonged to the Chinese military system, the troops under Huang Zhong's account became outsiders.

Therefore, the generals who were loyal to Liu Bei in terms of armor and materials received priority in supplies.Over time, there will naturally be a gap in the combat effectiveness of the army.

Huo Jun mentioned Huang Zhong now because he cherished Yongwu and also because he had worked with him before.

After saying that, Huo Jun patted Huang Zhong on the shoulder and said with a smile: "The general will have 5000 people. Anyone who exceeds the number will violate the military system. Kong Ming has good intentions, and I hope the old general will not let him down."

"Thank you Dudu!"

Huang Zhong looked at Huo Jun's leaving figure and seemed to understand something, so he handed over his hand and thanked him.

After inspecting the river weir, Huo Jun adjusted his arrangements and returned to his tent.

"The Governor!"

Yu Shao rushed into the tent, raised his hand, and said: "The scouts have found out the information about Shouchun. Cao Cao sent Xiahou Dun as a general, Sun Quan as the guard, and Liu Ye as a soldier to join the army, and sent the Jianghuai troops south."

"There are nearly 3 soldiers and horses under the tent, including generals such as Man Chong, Wen Ji, and Yin Shu. Wen Hui, the governor of Yangzhou, and Lv Gong, the governor of Yuzhou, are accompanying the army. Now that we have reached Chengde, we have stopped the troops from advancing. There seems to be a wait and see. The meaning of the situation.”

Huo Jun smiled a little when he heard that Xiahou Dun and Sun Quan were leading their troops southward at the same time.

Sure enough, without Sun Quan's Battle of Hefei, how can it be called the Battle of Hefei?
When Xu Sheng saw that Huo Jun was silent, he said: "Captain, Hefei has been besieged for several months and is in danger. Cao Cao has sent Xiahou Dun as a general, how can he defeat me?"

"Now that I have stopped becoming a virtue, Xiahou Dun should be afraid of our army's strength and dare not fight with our army. If we use our troops like this, won't we just sit back and watch Hefei belong to our army?"

"Do you have any opinions on public etiquette?" Huo Jun asked.

Yu Shao stared at the map and analyzed: "Xiahou Dun is Cao Cao's general. Although he is not good at military strategy, how can he sit back and watch the fall of Hefei. Now he has stopped to become a virtue, or he may be afraid of our army's strength and dare not advance. But with Shao's observation In other words, Xiahou Dun may be waiting for reinforcements, and when the reinforcements arrive, they will all go south."

"Where are the reinforcements coming from?"

Xu Sheng retorted and said: "General Mi led his army north to harass Xuzhou. How dare Zang Ba, Sun Guan and others leave Xuzhou so lightly. If we mobilize troops from Yanzhou and wait for reinforcements to arrive, the rainy season in the Jianghuai River will arrive!"

"Where's Zitong?"

Jiang Ji pointed to the map and said: "Chengde is more than a hundred miles away from Hefei. If we move in a hurry, we can reach Hefei overnight. Ji thought that Xiahou Dun should have talented people to guide him, so he stationed troops here and led them without attacking, so that our army did not dare to siege the city with all its strength. This way we can contain our troops and wait for the reinforcements to move south and march together.”

"As for where the reinforcements will come, it is difficult for Ji to know. However, if Ji has no information, Xiahou Dun will send people to Hefei to exchange news with Zhang Liao to encourage the hearts of the soldiers guarding the city."

"Zitong and Jun have the same opinion!"

Huo Jun paced in the tent and commented: "Xiahou Dun did not use military strategy as his advantage, but used troops based on his temperament. Knowing that Hefei was in urgent need, he would lead his army southward. He would definitely not station in Chengde, move behind, and lead without attacking, observing the situation. And march.”

After saying that, Huo Jun smiled and said: "Xiahou Dun was much more diligent than Bowang Po. He knew the depth of his enemy and was able to accept good advice."

Huo Jun's original plan was to take advantage of the urgency of flooding in Hefei to force Cao's army from the Jianghuai River south, thereby defeating them.Although Cao's army went south, he gathered heavy troops in Chengde to delay Huo Jun's attack on Hefei, waiting for the arrival of subsequent reinforcements.

Of course, this does not mean that Liu Ye's strategy broke the siege and mobilized reinforcements. It can only be said that Liu Ye's strategy delayed the process of Hefei City being flooded.After all, they were stationed in Chengde, and Huo Jun always had to divide his troops on defense to prevent them from suddenly moving south.

"Commander, if Xiahou Dun is as Mr. Zitong said, he should cut off contact with Hefei and outside the city to avoid internal and external conflicts." Yu Shao suggested.

Huo Jun waved his hand and said with a smile: "So what if we both behave well on the outside and inside? Let the two of us behave both on the outside and inside."

"This~"

Yu Shao and Xu Sheng looked at each other, unable to understand what Huo Jun meant.

"Commander, do you have a plan to defeat the thieves?" Jiang Ji asked.

Huo Jun put his hands behind his waist and said with a smile: "I don't dare to say that I have a strategy to defeat the enemy, but I have already thought about it. It's not something to be afraid of if you don't initiate it and just wait for reinforcements."

"Gongli!"

"exist!"

Huo Jun looked at the map and ordered: "Send scouts from Guangzhou to fully understand the movements of Cao's army."

"promise!"

Why does Huo Jun like to use Yu Shao?
If not for him, Yu Shao's arrangements for the scouts were better than those of his generals.For example, the scouts sent by Yu Shao went deep into the Huaihe area, more than [-] miles away from the main army. There were scouts sent by him from Guangling County to Jiujiang County.Thoroughly implement the prophetic message and then use troops.

"Captain, a letter from Wuhan!"

Jiang Ji waited for Huo Jun to finish his work, presented the letter to him, and said: "Liu Zhang closed the Shu road, and General Zhang led his army south from Hanzhong to capture Jiangzhou in order to open the waterway into Shu. The Lord sent General Guan as the commander and General Gan as the deputy general. Shu."

Seeing Huo Jun browsing the letter, Jiang Ji reminded him: "My lord, divide your troops to capture Shu and raise [-] troops for an expedition. This is the limit of Wu and Chu. There are no usable troops now."

Huo Jun put the letter away and said with a smile: "Now that the thieves have become virtuous, it is not too late to ask for reinforcements!"

With that said, Huo Jun said to the people on the left and right: "Rong Jun said arrogantly that I and you will conquer Hefei first, and my lord will take Bashu later. If the matter is urgent, you can also share the merits of Shu."

"Jun Wei is worried about Xiahou's acceptance of Sun Quan's words. He is afraid of the enemy and does not dare to march!"

"Let Jun teach Sun Quan to destroy Hefei!"

Everyone was confused again. They could understand Huo Jun's bragging, but they didn't understand why he wanted to teach Sun Quan to defeat Hefei?

Could it be that Sun Quan and Hefei have a story that needs to be told?
　ps: This chapter was written in a poor state, please forgive me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)