Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 434: Encircle Xiangyang and defeat Fancheng

When Cao Ren's letter from Shangshu was sent to Xuchang, the troops he led had already entered the Shuigu Road.

When Cao Cao sent a messenger south and ordered Yu Jin and Yan Xing to lead the seven armies to enter Jingzhou in batches, Cao Ren had already led a large army into Fangling.

When the messenger arrived at Zhuyang, Cao Ren had already been defeated in an ambush. The entire army was almost wiped out, and he only escaped to Gucheng with his own life. Cao Cao tried to catch up with Cao Ren, who was advancing alone, but it was too late.

Cao Ren, who fled to Gucheng, cried bitterly when he saw the messenger sent by Cao Cao. He regretted that he was stupid and believed in Meng Da's tricks, so that he was ambushed and defeated by water thieves, leaving Jingxiang empty of troops.

Then Cao Ren wrote a letter to Cao Cao, vowing in the letter that he would guard Xiangfan and prevent the situation in Jingxiang from deteriorating.

While staying in Gucheng, Cao Ren sent people deep into the river to search for the defeated troops scattered in the mountains. Knowing that Cao Ren was in Gucheng, Niu Jin, who broke out of the encirclement, led more than a thousand people on foot and cavalry to join them.

While Cao Ren continued to search for the scattered soldiers, Wenpin rushed to Xiangfan by boat. Taking advantage of the empty city of Xiangfan, he burned Deng Sai's Wei warships at night.

Knowing that Deng Sai had failed and Xiangfan had changed, Cao Ren led more than a thousand remaining soldiers to defeat the general and hurried to Fancheng.

At this time, Guan Yu, who had won a complete victory, did not rush to pursue the troops as before. Instead, he led his army to rest in Fangling for several days, digesting the results of capturing more than 10,000 people, and planning a road map for the advance.

Fei Yi bowed his hands and said with a smile: "The people in Jing and Xiang were almost wiped out. Except for Niu Jin and Cao Ren, all the thieves were captured without surrender. This is a battle for a great victory."

"Although he is carrying a piece of wood and escaping in the water, I expect that Cao Ren is also scared. This is not a danger to our army!"

Fei Yi pondered for a while and said: "Yi once heard that the water that protects Xiangyang is more than a hundred steps away, facing Fancheng and the Han River. It is one of the few strong cities in the world. I'm afraid it will not be easy for a prince to conquer Xiangfan! "

In the big tent, Guan Yu was sitting on the couch, stroking his long beard, talking and laughing with the people around him.

"Cao Ren has stationed troops in Xiangyang for many years, and the fortress outside the city is strong. Although Cao Ren's troops have been destroyed, the Chinese power still exists. When the princes march into Xiangfan with victory, Cao Cao will not sit back and wait for death, and will definitely send troops south to rescue."

After stroking his beard and thinking for a moment, Guan Yu said: "Cao Ren's troops have been destroyed, and Jianghan is empty. I want to advance with victory and enter Xiangfan."

Guan Yu looked proud and said calmly: "If I didn't have Zhu Shui to help me, Cao Ren would have been captured. But even if Cao Ren escaped, what would be the use? Cao Ren, a boy, is brave but has no plans. He has to rebel because of his clan. Being valued by Cao Cao."

After saying that, Fei Yi sighed with regret and said, "It's a pity that we didn't capture Cao Ren. If we could capture Cao Ren, we would cut off Cao Cao's arm!"

"The two cities of Xiangyang and Fan stand across the river. They are rare strong cities in the world. If you want to attack Xiangyang City now, you must not follow the rules and use ordinary methods to deal with it..."

Now that Cao Ren escaped, Guan Yu said it was a pity that it was purely false. After all, even if Cao Ren is not capable, as a cavalry general, if Cao Ren can capture him, he can give it to his brother as a gift for becoming emperor.

In Guan Yu's eyes, most of the Cao family's generals are mediocre and mediocre. They may be more than enough to serve as generals, but if they sit in the border areas as commanders and encounter generals fighting against each other, their abilities are probably not good enough.

Guan Yu stroked his beard and smiled, and said: "Your Majesty has ordered Wen Zhongye to sneak into Hankou and burn the Dengsai navy in a boat. Xiangfan has no navy to communicate with each other, so it will be easy!"

After a pause, Guan Yu looked at Lu Meng with his majestic and heroic red phoenix eyes, and said: "Ziming can tell you all about our plan."

But it is really a pity that Guan Yu is mostly indifferent. As he said, apart from his passionate bravery, Cao Ren had ordinary abilities, no military strategy and farsightedness, and could not be described as a commander. Now that he had beaten him to pieces and fled, he was so discouraged that Cao Ren had nothing to worry about.

"The king is so powerful that you admire him endlessly."

Fangling, Han military camp.

Luring Cao Ren's troops into battle and setting up an ambush to annihilate his division was only the prelude to the battle between Guan and Lu. Their real goal was to attack the Second City of Xiangfan.

Lu Meng stood up from the table, first offered his hands to Guan Yu, and then looked at the people in the tent, telling him all about his plan to attack Xiangyang with Guan Yu.

"Congratulations, Lord!"

After a pause, Fei Yi asked: "Your Majesty has defeated Cao Ren's army, but I don't know how you want to advance now?"

"promise!"

Over the years, Cao Ren built many fortresses outside Xiangyang based on the dangerous mountains and rivers. Coupled with the steepness of Xiangyang City itself, it was probably impossible for the Southern Han Dynasty to break it using normal siege methods.

Therefore, Guan and Lu studied the geography of Xiangfan for many years in order to find a way to break through the two cities of Xiangfan, and finally they found a way to break through the two cities of Xiangyang, that is, "encircle Xiangyang and defeat Fancheng." 'Strategy.

It was said before that Xiangyang and Fancheng were opposite to Jiajiang, and they had their own children and mother cities. Therefore, from the perspective of defensive strategy, the two cities of Xiangfan and Xiangfan are in a diversionary position. However, many things in the world have pros and cons. The two cities of Xiangfan and Xiangfan were both successful and defeated by the power of Duojiao.

For the southern government, Xiangyang City is south of the Han River and Fancheng is north of the Han River. Since Xiangyang City is difficult to defeat, we can completely bypass Xiangyang City and go directly to Fan City. Compared with Xiangyang City, which is difficult to break through, Fan City is narrow and small. If Fan City can be captured, there is no point in holding on to Xiangyang City.

If the generals in Xiangyang refused to surrender, the Southern Han Dynasty could also adopt the strategy of siege but not attack, wait until Xiangyang city's supplies were exhausted, and let the military officials in the city leave the city and surrender on their own.

But bypassing Xiangyang and attacking Fancheng directly is not an easy task!

The Han River is not a natural hazard of the Yangtze River, so it is not difficult to cross the Han River from the north. The key is to empty Jing Xiangyang's troops and use the Han River to isolate Fan City or capture Fan City before reinforcements arrive. Meng Da lured Cao Ren into battle, and Wen hired Deng Sai's army to attack and burn him. Both of these actions were preparations for the attack on Xiangfan.

Of course, there is another thing that is easily overlooked, that is, controlling the upper reaches of the Han River, blocking Cao Wei's rescue of Xiangyang City from the west of Xiangfan.

As Lu Meng explained the strategy of conquering Xiangfan, Guan Yu leaned on the bench with a look of pride.

Now that Cao Ren has sent off the main force of Jing and Xiang, and the two cities of Xiang and Fan are empty, he can now adopt a plan to besiege Fan City. Once Fancheng is defeated, Xiangyang City, with no way out, will surrender without a fight. Isn't it beautiful to capture Xiangyang City as a gift for my brother to proclaim himself emperor?

The generals in the tent listened to Lu Meng's detailed account and already understood the next battle plan.

"Your Majesty has sent more than 20,000 troops out of the Han River and besieged Fancheng. I am afraid that the troops are not enough. Do you want your Majesty to send reinforcements now?" Zhao Lei asked.

Guan Yu got up from the couch, paced slowly in the tent, and said: "Whenever two armies fight, the victory or defeat depends on the general, not the outnumbered. Now that Cao Ren has suffered his first defeat, the army is timid. It is enough to surround the thieves with 30,000 soldiers!"

"However, Cao Cao's army is moving south, and it is not too late to ask the king for troops again!"

"I wonder if you have any doubts?"

"Please give me your orders!" the generals stood up and replied.

"good!"

Guan Yu put his sword on his waist and said in a deep voice: "The army is now divided into two groups. With Lu Ziming as the front, he will lead his troops out to build a river to Gucheng, occupy Hannan and other cities, and then go down to Xiangyang. I will lead the partial army back to Jiangling and start all Nanjun soldiers and horses sailed north by boat, and the two armies converged on Yuliangzhou."

"No!" Everyone responded with their hands raised.
-

Not to mention that Guan Yu mobilized all his troops from Nanjun for the Northern Expedition. A few days after Cao Ren withdrew to Gucheng, Cao Cao in Xuchang received news of Cao Ren's defeat.

In the Xuchang Palace, Liu Fang walked carefully to Cao Cao, handed over the letter, and said: "Your Majesty, Cao Cao's chariot has arrived with a letter!"

"How is the war going?" Cao Cao asked calmly, holding a bamboo slip.

Liu Fang lowered his head and did not dare to answer.

"Ok?"

Seeing that Cao Cao seemed to be dissatisfied, Liu Fang hesitated for a while and said, "Your Majesty, Cao Cao's cavalry has been defeated!"

"What's the loss?" Cao Cao put down the bamboo slips, stared at Liu Fang with his cold eyes, and asked.

Being stared at by Cao Cao, the attendant suddenly felt nervous, swallowed his saliva, and said: "Except for Cao Cao's chariots and cavalry, General Niu Jin, and more than a thousand of his men, all the people in Jingxiang were wiped out. Hu Xiu, the governor of Jingzhou, surrendered, and Fu Fang, the governor of Nanxiang, Switch sides at the last minute."

"idiot!"

Hearing this, even though he was mentally prepared, after learning of such a huge loss, Cao Cao couldn't hold back the anger in his heart and directly threw the bamboo slips in his hand at Liu Fang. The sharp edge of the bamboo slip directly scratched Liu Fang's forehead, and blood flowed straight down.

"Your Majesty's forgiveness!"

Liu Fang ignored the blood on his head and quickly knelt down to apologize to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was so angry that he stood up and cursed: "Cao Ren is so stupid for trusting the enemy and taking advantage of danger to rush forward and suffer such a defeat!"

"Your Majesty, calm down!" Liu Fang persuaded, enduring the pain on his head.

"Your Majesty~"

Sima Yi picked up the bamboo slips for Cao Cao and seemed to want to persuade him to say something, but was interrupted by Cao Cao.

"The governor of a county, the governor of a state, all the troops of more than ten thousand were captured by the enemy, and Jingxiang was wiped out. Meng Da surrendered unexpectedly, and Guan Yu set up an ambush. It was really a good plan!"

Cao Cao paced and cursed angrily: "The people who weave mats and sell shoes have no plans and few opinions. If they can have such a plan, it must be the advice of Zhuge, Fazheng and others."

Although Cao Cao was mentally prepared for defeat, he really didn't expect Cao Ren to trick his entire army into annihilation. Because he had been prepared before, Cao Cao cursed a few times before gradually calming down.

Looking at Liu Fang, whose forehead was bleeding, Cao Cao said, "Please step back and recover from your injuries!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Liu Fangru hurriedly thanked Cao Cao on the day he was born.

After Liu Fang left, Sima Yi remonstrated and said: "Jingzhou suffered a big defeat for the first time. The governor and the governor surrendered before the battle. Jingxiang was in turmoil. Judging from the movements of the civil servants, the water thieves must plot against Xiangfan. Given the current situation, , I am afraid that Cao’s chariots and cavalry will not be able to secure the border, and do you want to select another wise general to rule the border and put an end to the chaos?”

Listening to Sima Yi's sincere words, Cao Cao fell silent.

In recent years, as the intensity and difficulty of battles have increased, the shortcomings of Cao's general's ability have become more and more obvious. Even if he arranges excellent deputies to assist him, sometimes he can't stand them up and refuse to listen.

Now he will recruit Cao Ren back to the capital. With the current situation, who can be trusted?

"Cao Ren has been in Xiangfan for a long time and is familiar with the mountains, rivers and terrain. If we choose him differently now, he will leave the town. I am afraid that he will not know the terrain."

After pacing for a while, Cao Cao said: "Now, although Cao Ren is the chief general, he is guarding the city wall; although Yu Jin is the deputy general, he is actually fighting for the military governor. There should be no mistakes in this arrangement. If there is a change in Xiangfan, I will personally lead the army south. "

In order to show that his rewards and punishments were fair, Cao Cao said: "Demoting Cao Ren to the rank of General Conquering the South, he will temporarily serve as a general of chariots and cavalry."

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)