Soldiers come to the world

Cao's army was divided into two groups, one guarding Shouchun and the other guarding Hefei. Shouchun's army was less than [-]. commander in chief.

At the same time, Cao Cao dispatched [-] troops from Xuzhou and Yedu to the south. The reinforcements had not yet arrived in Hefei, but at this time the land and water channels between Hefei and Shouchun were cut off by the Han army.

In fact, this was not caused by Xu Huang's hasty evacuation of Lu'an. The root cause was still in the Jiangdong Army. Without the Jiangdong Army's containment from the southeast, the Han Army no longer had to worry about the future. The navy marched northward and approached Hefei City. , if Xu Huang's army is not withdrawn, Xu Huang's army will be surrounded and wiped out by the Han army.

However, the withdrawal of Xu Huang's army did cause Cao Jun's great passiveness, that is, before Cao Jun's reinforcements arrived, the Han Army cut off the channel between Shouchun and Hefei. Even if Cao Jun's reinforcements arrived, they would not be able to support Hefei City.

In the final analysis, it was the poor cooperation of the Jiangdong Army that disrupted Cao Cao's deployment plan, which made Cao Cao very worried. Hefei City only had [-] defenders, whether it could support the Han army's violent attack on the city.

The withdrawal of the Jiangdong Army from the Battle of Hefei dealt a heavy blow to Cao Cao. He was anxious about the safety of Hefei, which made Cao Cao mentally and mentally exhausted. Coupled with his advanced age, he eventually fell ill.

The Shouchun Palace of Prayer for Good Harvests was part of the pseudo-imperial palace built by Yuan Shu back then. The pseudo-imperial palace has been demolished, leaving only this palace with an area of ​​only ten acres, which is now the temporary residence of Cao Cao.

Cheng Yu hurried into the gate, and met Xu Chu, Cao Cao's bodyguard commander, Cheng Yu hurriedly pulled Xu Chu aside, and asked in a low voice, "How is the situation of Duke Wei?"

Xu Chu sighed and said worriedly: "The situation is very bad. Last night, Mr. Wei coughed continuously and even coughed up blood. He fainted for a while. This is his illness at the beginning of last year, and it has relapsed again. Military division, I am really worried. .”

Cheng Yu nodded silently, sighed and said, "It seems that I have to persuade Duke Wei to return to Yedu as soon as possible."

He turned around and walked quickly to the inner house, but Xu Chu didn't have the confidence, how difficult would it be to persuade Duke Wei to leave Shouchun and return to Yedu?

In the ward, Cao Cao has woken up from his lethargy, and his illness is like a mountain. Cao Cao's face is dark and sluggish, giving people a feeling of dying years. Two maids are carefully serving him to drink medicine. Cao Cao shakes his head tiredly, Pushing away the soup bowl, at this moment, there was a guard outside the door reporting, "Sign up to Duke Wei, Cheng Junshi asks to see you!"

Cao Cao nodded, "Please come in!"

The door opened, Cheng Yu walked into the ward, stepped forward and bowed to salute, "My minister disturbed Duke Wei to rest."

"It's okay, I just woke up and I'm in good spirits."

Cao Cao smiled slightly, "Sir, please sit down!"

Cheng Yu sat down by Cao Cao's side. He looked at Cao Cao's complexion. He felt very gloomy, and his eyes were not bright. He became more and more worried. Cao Cao understood his worry and said with a smile, "I was like this last year, even worse than this." Heavy, after resting for several months, it gradually recovered, can't I speak now? You know, I couldn't even speak last year, so don't worry."

Cao Cao spoke for a long time in one breath, and he was really tired. He took a few breaths and closed his eyes again. At this time, the two maids retreated knowingly, and only Cheng Yu and Cao Cao were left in the room. two people.

"Wei Gong, it's a pity that the Jiangdong Army failed to participate in the battle, but if they really participate, they will become the weakest link in our entire battle line. Liu Jing will defeat the disabled Jiangdong Army at a critical moment, and then we may be defeated." suffer unforeseen losses, so"

Before Cheng Yu finished speaking, a strange smile appeared on the corner of Cao Cao's mouth. He waved his hand lightly, "Zhongde, I'm not that serious. You don't need to comfort me. I know it very well."

Cao Cao sighed softly, "Of course I know Sun Quan's weakness, but compared to the importance of the Jiangdong Navy, his weakness is not important."

Cheng Yu was also silent, and said for a moment: "Duke Wei, let's go back to Ye County! It's more important to keep your health."

"If I can't hold on, I will go back, but not now, Zhong De, now we are so passive, how can I go back with peace of mind?"

After a moment of silence, Cheng Yu said slowly: "Wei Gong should trust Wen Yuan, and believe that he will guard Hefei."

Cao Cao nodded, "If I didn't trust him, I wouldn't let him rule Hefei."

As soon as the words were finished, the guards reported at the door: "To Duke Wei, there is a pigeon letter from Hefei!"

Cao Cao cheered up, and quickly said: "Bring it in!"

A guard came in, holding a copy of the pigeon letter in his hand, Cheng Yu got up and took the pigeon letter, and told the guard to leave, he looked at the letter, and said to Cao Cao: "Wei Gong, it is about the Little Hefei City."

A few days ago, Cao Jun's scouts discovered that the Han army was building a shrunken Hefei city on the north bank of Chaohu Lake, and planned to use it to train soldiers to attack the city. Cao Jun sent a pigeon letter to the city, asking Zhang Liao to actively respond, and now Zhang Liao replied.

"What did he say?" Cao Cao asked.

"Wen Yuan said that the city is just a defensive weapon, and soldiers are the key to victory. The Han army can imitate the city, but it cannot imitate the Cao army. The Han army builds the city, so don't take it too seriously."

Cao Cao nodded and sighed: "Wen Yuan really has the style of a famous general!"

Time gradually arrived in early August, and 15 reinforcements from the Han army arrived in Hefei, bringing the total strength of the Han army to 5. Cao's reinforcements from Xuzhou also had 7 reinforcements. Since the land and water channels were cut off by the Han army, they could not support Hefei. It can only be stationed in Shouchun, so that Shouchun's army strength reaches [-], while Hefei's army strength is [-]. From the comparison of the total army strength, the Cao army is weaker than the Han army.

At this time, the Han army camp had moved north to a highland about five miles west of Hefei City, facing Hefei City far away, Liu Jing looked at Hefei City in the distance, turned back and asked Fazheng, "Are you ready? "

"Reporting to Your Highness, the preparations have been completed and you can act at any time."

Liu Jing nodded, "Then take action at the second watch tonight!"

For the Han army, the first obstacle in attacking Hefei City was undoubtedly the hundreds of feet wide moat, which is also the biggest difference between Hefei City and other cities.

For moats, the general solution is to erect wooden planks or fill in the moat, but this is not applicable to the moat of Hefei City. Floating bridges should be set up for such a wide moat, but Cao Jun has sharp kerosene. Ships will be burned by the fire oil thrown from the city.

In desperation, the Han army could only use the most laborious but also the most effective means to divert the water from the moat. After more than a month of hard work, this project has gradually entered the final finishing stage.

The moat in Hefei is actually a part of the water application. The water flows from the Shaopi Lake in the north, pours into the moat, enters the Ruxu water from the moat, and finally flows into Chaohu Lake. Since the terrain of Hefei is high in the north and low in the south, this gives The opportunity for the Han army to divert the water from the moat.

At night, thousands of soldiers of the Han army were busy on both sides of the water application in the north of Hefei City. The water application is the canal connecting Hefei and Shouchun. Wan Minfu widened and dug deep the canal, making the canal a maximum of three thousand stone cargo ships.

To the east of Shishui is a low-lying area. It was originally a lake and swamp, which was connected with Shaopi Lake. Later, Shaopi Lake gradually shrank and the swamp gradually dried up. Dry swamps and swamps gradually turned into fertile fields.

Before Cao Jun widened the canal, the water application did not pose much threat to the grain, but was a precious source of irrigation water. However, since the water application was transformed into a canal, the river bed was raised, and the water application became a suspended river on the ground, which had great impact on the original terrain. The relatively low-lying fertile land has posed a huge threat.

It may not be possible now, but in a few decades, the canal will be in disrepair for a long time. Once it bursts, it will cause devastating disasters to the low-lying fertile fields. The key to the Han army diverting the water from the moat is this canal.

After nearly a month of hard work, [-] Han troops have built a dam on Shishui, ten miles north of Hefei, and put soil and gravel in cloth bags into Hanoi. Tonight, with the last tens of thousands of bags of soil and gravel Throwing it into the river finally cut off the water application.

At the same time, the moat also lost its supplementary water source. Due to the high terrain in the north, all the water in the moat would eventually flow into Chaohu Lake.

At this time, hundreds of soldiers of the Han army tore away thousands of bags of earth cloth blocked on the embankment, and a breach about ten feet wide appeared quickly on the embankment. Go to the large fertile land in the low-lying area.

More than ten miles to the east, at the other end of the low-lying land, there is a small river called the Feizhi River. The locals call it the Concubine River. However, the army dug an artificial river and connected the Feizi River with Chaohu Lake. After the flood from the canal submerged tens of thousands of fertile fields, a new lake was formed. In this way, the water will be diverted and no longer flow through the moat of Hefei.

Due to the interception of water application, the water level in the river channel south of the barrage began to drop rapidly. Ten thousand Han soldiers standing on the west bank pushed mountains of soil and boulders into the river channel, making the barrage widened to half a mile. completely blocked

Early the next morning, Zhang Liao got the news and hurried to Dongchengtou. He was shocked by the scene in front of him. He saw a new lake ten miles away, a vast expanse of white, with a size of tens of thousands of acres.

However, the water level of the moat below the city is rapidly decreasing. The riverbed has been exposed in the Beicheng area, and Xiaoyaojin has turned into a dry land. The densely packed Han soldiers are rushing to pick up soil and fill the rotten silt. The section of Xianan City is only a few feet deep, and within two days at the latest, the moat will be completely drained.

Zhang Liao couldn't help but heaved a long sigh. The Han army was really generous, and even used the method of transforming rivers and lakes to divert the water from the moat. Zhang Liao didn't lament the talent in the Han army, but Liu Jing's will to attack Hefei.