Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 684 Sweeping Qidong
Huo Jun knew that even if Sun Quan led his troops southward, it would still be difficult to get him to lead his troops to fight. Considering this, Huo Jun set his sights on the eastern part of Qi, hoping to open up the battlefield from the eastern part of Qi, thereby affecting the war in the southern part of Qi.

Huo Jun had previously ordered Huo Fan to withdraw his troops westwards and surround the cities together with the main army, but this was actually just a trick. Tang Zi was the one who led the main army back west, and Huo Fan had already led 2,000 elite soldiers northwards.

Huo Fan's mission when he went north this time was not to defend the city against Xiahou Ba, but to lead elite troops to defeat Xiahou Ba, help the Han Dynasty gain advantage in the east of Qi, disintegrate Cao Wei's rule from the inside, and force Sun Quan to send troops to fight a decisive battle with Huo Jun.

Now that Huo Jun was holding back Zhucheng, Huo Fan led two thousand soldiers and horses to Buqi to meet up with Zhuge Dan. The two armies had a total of 7,000 soldiers.

During the confrontation between Sun Quan and Huo Jun, Xiahou Ba led 10,000 infantry and cavalry eastward, aiming directly at Buqi.

After learning of Xiahou Ba's whereabouts, Huo Fan led his troops to Jieting (now Jiaozhou) beside the Gushui River to fight.

During this period, Zhuge Dan suggested leading the troops to hold the city, wear down the morale of the Wei army, and then attack to defeat them.

Huo Fan rejected Zhuge Dan's request, saying that if the enemy were to fight in the host territory, they would not be willing to fight to the death. Our army is in the guest territory, and the only way to survive is to fight to the death. If we cannot win quickly, how can we intimidate the Qingqi counties?

In order to prevent Zhuge Dan from trying to survive, Huo Fan burned the boats in the harbor to show his determination to move forward.

Seeing the boats being burned, Zhuge Dan had no choice but to obey Huo Fan, and the two led their troops to set up camp at Jie Ting.

Xiahou Ba was overjoyed to see the Han army marching out to attack, thinking that the Han army had no food and had no choice but to fight, so he led his army to engage Huo Fan.

In June, the two armies fought a fierce battle at Jieting.

Huo Fan ordered Zhuge Dan to lead the army to defeat Xiahou Ba. Xiahou Ba fought bravely and defeated Zhuge Dan. The Han army was defeated and fled, and Xiahou Ba led his troops to pursue them.

During the pursuit, Huo Fan ordered his troops to attack from both sides, and Zhuge Dan led his troops to fight back, defeating the Wei army. The Han army pursued the enemy for more than 30 miles, killing more than 2,000 people and capturing more than 3,000 people.

Xiahou Ba's shouts were ineffective in stopping the fleeing soldiers, and as the Han army's offensive was fierce, Xiahou Ba led hundreds of his troops to flee to Yian.

After capturing 3,000 surrendered soldiers, Zhuge Dan wanted to accept them to increase the morale of the army, but was rejected by Huo Fan again.

Huo Fan said that Wei's soldiers and horses were all Qi people, living in the counties of Qingqi. Although taking them in would boost the army's prestige, if they were defeated, the surrendered people would surely flee. Now that they came to pacify Qingqi, it would be better to release the captives and return home, which would both appease the Qi people and make the cities surrender.

Zhuge Dan could not persuade Huo Fan and had no choice but to agree to release the prisoners.

Thousands of captives returned home, and the surrounding cities knew the might of the Han army. As Huo Fan had said, all the counties east of Jiaoshui surrendered to the Han.

Huo Fan took advantage of the victory and pursued, aiming directly at Yi'an near Jiaoshui. Xiahou Ba knew he was no match for him, so he abandoned Yi'an and fled to Gaomi near Weishui.

How could Huo Fan let Xiahou Ba go? He continued to lead his troops in pursuit deep into the Wei River Basin.

Fortunately, when Xiahou Ba fled to Gaomi, he received support from his brother Xiahou Hui with 5,000 soldiers and horses, so Xiahou Ba was able to defend Gaomi City.

In July, Huo Jun stood in a standoff with Sun Quan across the Wei River without making a sound. Huo Fan saw Xiahou Ba defending Gaomi City and his soldiers were exhausted, so he ordered Zhuge Dan to lead 2,000 troops north to Zhencheng, block the cities downstream of the Wei River, and harass the counties west of Wei.

Huo Fan led his troops to withdraw to Yi'an, and in the name of governor of the three counties of Donglai, Chengyang and Beihai, he pacified twenty counties including Jiaodong, Jimo, Zhuangwu, Changguang, Guanyang, Xia Mi and Luxiang.

Seeing that the Wei army was exhausted, under Huo Fan's offer of amnesty, fifteen of the twenty counties in eastern Qi surrendered to the Han. Even if the remaining counties did not surrender, they remained neutral in their attitude.

As Huo Fan opened up the situation in Qidong, it had already affected the battlefield situation in Qinan.

Weishui, Han army camp.

Inside the big tent, Huo Jun was browsing battle reports from various places, feeling quite happy.

Let's not talk about the battle in the east of Qi for now. On the Jianghan battlefield, thanks to the success of the Laokou battlefield, Sima Yi and Zhang He were driven north of the Yu River by Zhuge Liang, and the Han army pushed the battle line to Wancheng. Now, except for Wancheng, all the other counties in the south of Yu have surrendered to the Han Dynasty.

Since Sima Yi and Zhang He had many troops and horses, they could not break through, and they held their ground. Zhuge Liang had no choice but to be patient, let people farm in the surrounding fields, and decided to fight a protracted war with Cao Wei.

Compared with the smooth progress in the Jianghan battlefield, the Han army was at a disadvantage in the Guanxi area. Generals Lu Xun and Huang Quan were blocked by Cao Zhen in Chencang. They dared not retreat, but could not advance, which was particularly difficult.

Moreover, Guo Huai sent out troops in the summer to harass Longyou. Wei Yan and Jiang Wei, who were stationed in Wating, led their troops to resist after learning of Guo Huai's movements. It is unknown whether Wei Yan and Guo Huai will win or lose, and it may take more than a month to see the result.

As for Huo Jun's flank, Pang Tong's troops, who were heading toward Runan, had a confrontation with Man Chong. As Xiacai City was strong, Pang Tong saw that he could not gain an advantage, so he led his troops to withdraw to Rukou to contain Man Chong.

Overall, the trend of the Northern Expedition is positive, and it is worth being happy about the results.

"Governor, there's a letter from the Major General!"

While Huo Jun was reading the letter, Jiang Ji handed Huo Fan's letter to him.

Huo Jun put down the letter and said with a smile: "In recent months, the scholars have reported many good news. I wonder what good news this letter contains!"

As he spoke, Huo Jun opened the letter in front of Jiang Ji. Huo Fan said in the letter that the troops he sent had once again seized the food and grass transported to Zhucheng. Moreover, all the twenty counties in the east of Qi had surrendered and provided a batch of food and grass to the Han army.

"How is the young general?" Jiang Ji asked curiously.

Huo Jun handed the letter to Jiang Ji and said with a smile: "Shi Zai sent a letter saying that he had seized Wei's army's food and grass again, and that all the twenty counties in the east of Qi had surrendered to our army."

Hearing this, Jiang Ji was overjoyed and said, "Within twenty days, the soldiers have succeeded in robbing food three times. Sun Quan's troops may be short of food."

After Huo Fan defeated Xiahou Ba, he led his troops to pursue him to Gaomi. Although he failed to capture Gaomi, he allowed Zhuge Dan to occupy Zhencheng.

In order to cut off Sun Quan's food supply, Huo Fan added two thousand soldiers to Zhuge Dan, bringing the total number to four thousand.

Zhuge Dan had sufficient manpower. In addition to conquering the counties in the lower reaches of the Wei River, he also continuously attacked the grain transport teams. In order to ensure the smooth flow of grain, Xiahou Ba tried to lead his troops to attack once, but was frightened off by Huo Fan's threat to take Gaomi.

Sun Quan was furious when he saw that Xiahou Ba was not available. However, he dared not move because Huo Jun was holding his troops in the south, so he had to keep asking for food from the rear.

There was no shortage of food and supplies in the rear, but whenever food and supplies were sent to the Wei River Basin, they were either robbed by Zhuge Dan or Huo Fan, resulting in food shortages for Sun Quan's troops.

Attacking Sun Quan's food supply route was the fundamental purpose of Huo Jun's advancement of the Qidong strategy.

Qidong was poorer than Qixi, and although the Han army's occupation of Qidong could undermine the Wei army's food supply, the Wei army had Hebei as its back, so how could they be defeated by losing Qidong?

Therefore, Huo Jun's fundamental purpose was not to occupy Qidong, but to use Qidong as a springboard to let Huo Fan defeat Xiahou Ba and send the Han army to the Weishui River Basin, thereby attacking the Wei army's grain transportation channel.

As for why they were able to attack the Wei army’s food supply routes, it had something to do with the cities.

Zhucheng is located in the upper reaches of the Weishui River, in the southern part of Qi. Gaomi is located in the middle section. If the Han army occupies Gaomi, the retreat of the Wei army will be cut off. Zhencheng is the confluence of the Wenshui River and the Weishui River. Most of the food and grass to be transported to Zhucheng must pass through Zhencheng.

When grain and grass were transported from the west of Qi, they could bypass Zhencheng, but they had to be transported through the Wen and Wei rivers. The Han army would often spy on the grain route and send out a large number of scouts. Once a grain team arrived at the Wei River, the Han army would attack and rob the grain, thus severely damaging Sun Quan's grain route.

It can be said that Huo Jun's leading Sun Quan to Zhucheng was essentially a trap, in order to use the unique terrain of Zhucheng to trap Sun Quan.

Before Huo Jun's Northern Expedition, he had discussed the theory of attack and defense, that is, attack and defense have the same purpose, defense can be turned into attack, and attack can be turned into defense. Attack and defense are means to victory, not the purpose of using troops.

Now Huo Jun is holding back Sun Quan by defending the various cities, and then when the right opportunity comes, Huo Jun will switch from defense to offense, which will be able to interpret the previous discussion.

Considering the current situation, Jiang Ji asked, "Commander-in-chief, should we send scouts to investigate the situation in Sun Quan's camp?"

"Not urgent!"

Huo Jun paced and said with a smile: "Sun Quan has no intention of preparing for war, so our army does not need to rush. Let's see how long Sun Quan's troops can hold out. If Sun Quan is running out of food and supplies, he should consider retreating."

Huo Jun showed a cunning look and said, "When Sun Quan wants to retreat, I will order Xu Sheng's troops to cross the Wei River and set up a battle array, forcing Sun Quan to fight."

The best way to force the enemy to fight is not to issue a declaration of war and schedule a battle, or to expose your own weaknesses and lure the enemy to attack. Instead, it is to put the enemy in a dilemma and force them to fight.

For example, Li Shimin often used defensive counterattacks to defeat the enemy, but why was the enemy able to do as Li Shimin intended so often?
The reason was nothing else but that Li Shimin had sufficient military supplies and was good at cutting off other people's food supplies.

Li Shimin had sufficient military rations, which meant he could fight the enemy for a long time. And he was good at cutting off the food supply of others, which made it impossible for them to hold on. When the food supply reached a critical point, they had to attack.

A typical case is Li Shimin's attack on Liu Heita in the north. Although Liu Heita had Hebei as a food supply, Li Ji and Luo Yi attacked Hebei from multiple sides, causing him to be short of food. In order to get out of the predicament, Liu Heita had to send troops to fight.

So although Li Shimin was defending, he was actually attacking. Liu Heita fell into Li Shimin's battlefield rhythm step by step and was eventually defeated by Li Shimin.

Bai Qi's Battle of Changping and Han Xin's Battle of Jingxing both have similar meanings!

Don't listen to what Sun Quan said before the battle, Huo Jun only knows a few tricks, that is, use fire attack in water battles, flooding in sieges, and strong troops in field battles. If he stays put, Huo Jun will be helpless.

In fact, it is not the case. Huo Jun often uses those tactics. They are simple and straightforward, and most suitable for fighting in the south. How can we defeat a powerful enemy by attacking with water instead of fire? How can we destroy a city with minimal damage without flooding it? Besieging a city and attacking reinforcements, ambushing along the roads, are just small tricks to mobilize the enemy.

If he encounters an enemy like Sun Quan who refuses to defend himself, Huo Jun will use other methods to deal with him!
There are five ways to fight: one, two, heaven, three, earth, four, generals, and five, tactics. A strong warrior will naturally use the five ways to win!

Sun Quan knew the appearance but not the essence, and wanted to defend and retreat from Huojun, which was ridiculous!
(End of this chapter)