After more than 20 days of bloody battle, Guan Yu's troops finally retreated safely. The difficulties and dangers along the way were all the way, and he was lucky enough to escape.

Every step you take, you will find that some of the conditions in the initial plan are no longer met, and you have to make temporary adjustments to have a way out.

Not to mention the distance, even after Guan Yu had passed the Sanmenxia natural danger, he could not even complete the last journey according to the previous plan. After Guan Yu passed Dayang County, he should go north to cross Zhongtiao Mountain and return to Anyi, which was guarded by Zhuge Liang, to assist in the defense.

However, Guan Yu's injuries were not light before and he could not support the fight again, and his soldiers were exhausted.

In particular, he pushed the caravan from the Yellow River to the hillside of Zhongtiao Mountain on the north bank, and then unloaded all the goods and carried them over Sanmenxia. He pushed the horse and pushed nearly 1,000 caravans with empty weights of several thousand kilograms up the hillside and pushed them down the river from the other side.

All these operations consumed too much physical strength for soldiers. During the whole process, there were no less than 100 soldiers who died of falls or accidents, accounting for almost 0.5% of the retreating troops.

There are countless muscle strains and other physical strains. It is estimated that two or three thousand people in the army have muscle strains or bone disc herniation, and they all need to be well maintained.

What else can such a strong army do on the battlefield? Fortunately, Guan Yu also received good news temporarily. Knowing that Zhuge Liang was very strong, he actually temporarily repelled Zhang Liao and Jia Xu by himself.

In this way, even if Lu Bu personally attacks Anyi, or if Ba Wen Chou and Cheng Lian send them to join forces with Zhang Liao, it would take a lot of preparation time. There would be no need to worry within at least ten days, and Guan Yu would not have to be so anxious to return to defend Anyi himself.

After considering this situation, Guan Yu lay in a caravan while thinking about countermeasures, and then he temporarily decided to go back to Chang'an or at least Huayin at the mouth of the Wei River to recover from his injuries, and took the soldiers back to the rear for rest.

At the same time, a fast-sentence ship was sent to Liu Bei to report the situation to Liu Bei, and asked Liu Bei to send a part of the reserve team from Chang'an as the reserve team of the Beijing garrison troops to Anyi to assist in defense. In this way, the injured and tired soldiers on Guan Yu's side could replace the relatively relaxed defense tasks of Guanzhong, stationed in Huayin, and take a leave of care.

Guan Yu's request was notified by the whistleboat a day later, and Liu Bei of course accepted it immediately. In Liu Bei's opinion, it was shameless to attack by Yuan Shao's camp in diplomacy, even if half of Hedong County was lost, it was a trivial matter.

As long as Guan Yu retreats alive, it is acceptable. The reinforcements that should be sent to Zhuge Liang will be sent separately at any time.

So Guan Yu sailed for two more days, and finally arrived in Huayin on May 23rd. However, Huayin was narrow in terrain and belonged to a mountainous area, which was inconvenient for the army to station. The troops went upstream of the Wei River for dozens of miles to station in Zheng County.

Guan Yu got off the car and got on his horse and rode into Beijing to report his duties and apologize. However, when he walked from Zheng County to Xinfeng, he met Liu Bei who came to Xinfeng from Chang'an to greet him.

Guan Yu felt very embarrassed, so he got off the horse and knelt on the side of the road from a distance. Liu Bei quickly got off the horse and ran over: "Why is this Yun Chang?"

Guan Yu sighed dejectedly: "I underestimated Zhang Liao. I heard that Jia Xu had given advice and was attacked and most of the land in Hedong were lost. Our army was injured and captured. I have calculated these days, and the total loss of more than 17,000 people was lost.

This is all due to my arrogance. Over the years, I have often scolded Yide for being reckless, but I know that I have the same mistake today. The one-time mistake today has exceeded the recklessness of Yide for many years. I am really ashamed to see the elders of Guanxi."

Guan Yu said that more than 17,000 people were lost, and there was absolutely no exaggeration to the 30,000 soldiers he brought out, and less than 20,000 people came back alive.

Of course, the losses caused by him personally commanding the tough battle were as high as six or seven thousand, and the losses caused by the enemy were definitely several times higher than that.

There were still four or five thousand people, mainly sent Xi Zhen, Hao Pu and others to guard the various ferries of the rear road, and they were directly cut off the rear road and defeated by Zhang Liao, Wei Yue and Chenglian. The troops at these ferry strongholds were almost wiped out, and one or two thousand people were captured in an integrated manner.

Guan Yu's main force lost more than 10,000 yuan, and the remaining six or seven thousand was the Hedong defensive battlefield, and Xu Huang and others suffered losses.

Xu Huang was damaged by Zhang Liao's first sneak attack. The key was that Dongyuan and Wenxi were captured and forced to make arriving. Many defenders in the city were killed and injured, and all the rest surrendered. This kind of annihilation of the established system is often the most injured.

Looking back on Zhang Fei's reckless mistakes in this life, the total losses are actually acceptable, all of which are minor problems.

The battle commanded by Liu Bei himself suffered the most miserable losses. Five years ago, when Wang Yungang was betrayed by Li Jue and Guo Si, the failed Northern Expedition, which resulted in the death and injury of 4,000 Northern Expedition soldiers and captured, and Wu Lan and Cheng Ji were also killed in battle.

Guan Yu always felt that he was the most stable among the three brothers and had the strongest control over the troops. Unexpectedly, he had not defeated the war in more than ten years, and the losses caused by one mistake were the greatest.

This made him feel that "it turned out to be me in the end" and he couldn't raise his head.

However, fortunately, Guan Yu is a proud man who can learn more from his lessons than Zhang Fei. And this time it was a reason for the incident, after all, he lacked sensitivity and judgment on changes in the diplomatic situation.

But even if you want to make this mistake again, there will be no chance. Yuan Shao has already broken up with Liu Bei. Cao Cao also had to express his consistent support for Yuan Shao. At most, Sun Ce only nominally respects Liu He as the emperor, but in fact, he temporarily lives in the mountains and watches tiger fights to accumulate strength.

The princes in the world have already divided the east and west, and the situation is very clear, and there is no need to fight diplomatic wars in the future.

In order to form this situation, we cannot blame Liu Bei’s camp for not doing a good job in diplomatic work, or Li Su’s “Lian Heng” strategy, because Liu Bei’s camp is already the largest, and everyone else is in danger.

It's like playing the glorious Three Kingdoms game or Nobunaga's Ambition. At this point, it will definitely trigger the plot of "Liu Bei's Surrounding Net".

Liu Bei was of course more tolerant when facing Guan Yu's self-examination: "Chang Yun, you are willing to reflect on it. This is a good thing. It is clear that rewards and punishments are also necessary. Only in this way can we convince the public, and that is for outsiders to see.

Although you lost some people this time, you also annihilated a lot of enemies. Killing Yan Liang, Jiang Yiqu, Wei Yue, and annihilation of Yuan Shao's army may not be less than 30,000 to 40,000, which is enough to make a fortune. You should recuperate your experience and lessons."

After hearing these words, Guan Yu felt much more distressed.

If Liu Bei had no merits and demerits and only talked about friendship, he would not be able to withstand Guan Yu's self-esteem. But Liu Bei knew him so well that he said, "Rewards and punishments must be done in public and do not give people the opportunity to gossip. But no matter how rewards and punishments, our friendship is friendship and loyalty."

Liu Bei has already prepared for the beginning of the second half of the year and officially proclaimed himself emperor on the first day of July. Now it is May 23, and there is still one month left. At that time, I was worried about when Guan Yu would escape back and leave more room for it.

On the other hand, Liu Bei also knew that a general in front of him had just lost a small battle and was called emperor, so he was not very satisfied with his face, so he also hoped that after Guan Yu successfully retreated, Zhuge Liang would win a little more battle and help to whitewash it.

This will also ensure that "the last military operation before becoming emperor is a victory", and it will be auspicious to both the people and the people.

While Liu Bei and Guan Yu returned to Chang'an, the Guanzhong Army's reserve team also pulled some of them to Hedong. Ma Chao, who was in Hongnong, was transferred to the northern line and brought 20,000 people to support Zhuge Liang.

However, what Liu Bei and Guan Yu did not expect was that Ma Chao actually didn't get much work in the end.

...

The conversation was divided into two parts. When Guan Yu withdrew from Chang'an, Zhuge Liang, Dian Wei, Zhang Ren and others came to Anyi with Zhang Liao and Jia Xumao a few days ago.

As mentioned earlier, Guan Yu finally made a complete false action on the evening of May 16th and officially implemented the plan to withdraw troops from the south slope of Zhongtiao Mountain on the main stream of the Yellow River.

Lu Bu's army discovered that, and Pegasus sent a messenger to ask Zhang Liao to speed up the attack on Anyi and intercepted the marching route along the north bank of the Yellow River from Anyi to Dayang. It was the next day, May 17th.

Because he was a fast horse running messenger, his speed was naturally extraordinary. He was sent out early on the 17th and arrived in Wenxi late at night. When he met Zhang Liao and Jia Xu, he told Lu Bu's request.

Jia Xu's plan to weaken the Anyi defenders began to prepare for the plan from May 13th. He had been storing water and preparing materials for five days, and he could do it almost. Although Lu Bu was a little anxious, Jia Xu would not have been able to rush the ducks to put them on the shelves.

After receiving the order, Jia Xu discussed with Zhang Liao: "Wen Yuan, let's make some preparations. Let the soldiers rest during the day tomorrow, set off in the afternoon, and strive to attack Anyi in the middle of the night.

The dam had stored water for five or six days, and it was relatively slow. The water level in the downstream did not drop significantly. By then, the gods were definitely caught off guard without knowing it. Moreover, fire ships, firewood, oil flocs and other objects were also ready to stop working."

Zhang Liao was very satisfied with Jia Xu's plan: "With Mr. Wu's hand attacking with fire and water, even if Wu Ban Xu Huang and the others see through the water attack, it will be useless. They will lose this time."

After half a day of preparation as planned, on the afternoon of the 18th, Zhang Liao's army set out from Wenxi and continued to go downstream after night. In the second half of the night, they first pushed the fireboat to the shore to fix it, and then began to release water upstream.

It turns out that with Jia Xu's IQ, how could he not have expected that "the enemy may escape from the flood when dealing with the enemy with a water army dock, and the enemy may flee in panic on the ships and avoid floods"?

Therefore, relying solely on a water plan to flood the low-lying water village in Anyi City, the north is not enough to completely wipe out Liu Bei's army outside the city.

Jia Xu had already prepared a second hand for this situation: get some fire boats and board the ship while Liu Bei's army was in a panic. The fire boats upstream took advantage of the tail of the flood peak to rush down the current. The speed was absolutely not too late to hide! When you get close, it would burn all the big ships of Liu Bei's army!

Even if you avoid the water scheme, you can't escape the fire scheme!

Anyi burns the trench and uses water to the river, and it is safe! I personally say that Guan Zhong and Le Yi's use of troops may not be beyond this.

...

With such a complete strategy, Zhang Liao's army was naturally full of confidence, and the entire army was full of fighting spirit for the night attack.

In the early morning of May 19th, at the fourth update, all Zhang Liao's army in the upper reaches entered a tense battle posture. Then the flood peak that broke the dike and released the water quickly arrived at the North Water Village in Anyi City. Seeing the rumbling water roaring into Liu Bei's army's camp, Zhang Liao seemed to have already figured out the tragic situation of the enemy soldiers wailing in the flood in the middle of the night.

While on the way, they actually noticed some firelights and realized that it might be the torches of the enemy's sudden night patrol scouts. However, considering the speed of the scout's transmission, Zhang Liao did not take it too seriously because the torch sources did not survive until Zhang Liao's army reached the nearest attack, and perhaps they were drowned directly by Hong Feng.

A person can run on two legs, or even if there are war horses, he cannot escape the flood.

"The whole army attacked! The infantry went straight to the north gate of Anyi City. Anyone who escaped from the low water camp to the city would be intercepted and killed halfway! If you have the chance, follow the defeated soldiers to seize the gate while taking advantage of the chaos!

A raft went downstream and followed the fireboat to fight! The crossbowmen lined up to shoot and kill the drowning enemy soldiers!"

After Zhang Liao finished his order, he personally led the cavalry on the high ground on the south side to rush towards the direction of Anyi City and cut off the enemy's escape route outside the city. Jia Xu sat on the only few warships and went downstream to command the fire attack.

The number of ships in the Zhang Liao army was not large, and most of the soldiers who were on the waterway were still riding on rafts. This was mainly because they crossed Wenxi County, captured by Zhongtiao Mountain-Wangwu Mountain Pass, and their own ships were all in the Yellow River Basin and could not drive in the water.

Therefore, only a small number of ships from Wenxi's defenders were seized, and the rafts that were temporarily logged in the six days after Wenxi's capture.

The logistical difficulties caused by blocked rivers are the same for either side. Guan Yu had to worry about the boat that had been flooded with water before that could not reach the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and Zhang Liao naturally had to worry about the boat that was flooded with water.

However, if the car could take the opportunity to wipe out Liu Bei's army in the water village in the northern water village of Anyi City and seize all the remaining ships, it would be of great significance! So many ships and excellent warships could transport tens of thousands of people at once, and maybe they could cross the Yellow River from Pubanjin and directly enter the Wei River...

What does that mean? It means that if these ships are captured, why would Yuan Shao’s army attack Tongguan! In the future, if you want to attack Guanzhong, you will go directly to Chang’an City by water! That is a great achievement! Maybe it can affect the world pattern of the two emperors of the East and West. (Of course, this only means that you have the conditions to arrive in Chang’an. If you can fight against Liu Bei’s army after you arrive, it will be a little bit of a matter of whether you can beat Liu Bei’s army)

At this moment, Jia Xu was on the warship, and seeing that the water camp was still three or four miles away, considering that it would take some time to catch fire, he decisively ordered all the soldiers on the fire raft to light the fire.

In a moment, a raging fire broke out on fifty or sixty rafts, and all the soldiers who set fire retreated to the small boat that followed, and then cut off the cables bound between the small boat and the fire raft to prevent the flame from spreading to the soldiers' boat.

The fire raft was getting closer and closer. Due to the darkness, it was not until the fire raft rushed to the nearest and the blazing fire illuminated the water village that Jia Xu could see clearly the situation in the water village.

But it was at this moment that he was suddenly shocked and found that something was wrong:

"Why is there no chaos in the enemy camp? There is no wailing and panic? Could it be that they all boarded the boat in an orderly manner before the arrival of the Hongfeng peak? Is it impossible, are they not sleeping? Can they be alert so quickly?

Moreover, their ships did not look messy at all, and were not washed downstream? How could such a ship remain unmoved after the flood peak?"

Jia Xu just noticed the problem and saw that all the crossbows and ambushers on the opposite warships were rising up, and they shot wildly like rain at the upstream. At least dozens of long iron rods stretched out from each ship. They held the fire raft and drove to the north shore, causing most of the fire rafts to take advantage of the tail of the peak to rush to the Liu Bei's warship.

It is obvious that the information transmission speed in this era is not fast enough. Zhuge Liang used a bamboo pole to support a fire boat against the fire attack of the Yuan Shu army general Liang Gang on the battlefield of Nanyang County a few months ago in Xinye City on the banks of the Jingshui River. Jia Xu, who was far away in Bingzhou, did not find out at the first time.

In fact, even if Jia Xu found out, he might not take it seriously, because the battlefield situation was very different, Liang Gang's fire attack was at dawn and had better visibility. Now it is the fourth day of the day, so it is still mixed with the flood scheme.

Even if Jia Xu knew about the pole fireboat, he would not feel that he could still hold on in such a flood peak. As long as the formations of both sides were chaotic and were washed away with the flow, wouldn’t it be burning randomly?

But an incredible scene happened.

At this moment, on the largest warship in Liubei’s army’s water camp, Zhang Ren, who was in charge of defense, admired Zhuge Liang completely:

"Zhuge Sima was really a clever plan. We asked our army to drive the warship to a relatively shallow position in advance to strand, and also asked the soldiers to dig more river sand and silt to completely stand the ship so that they could not be washed away in the flood more than half a meter high.

We also asked us to apply wet river mud on the side of the ship in advance, so that even if we accidentally fail to hold it up and are hit by the fire raft, it will not burn immediately."

Zhuge Liang shook the folding fan and kept smiling and silent. He didn't care about these two compliments from Zhang Ren. Only after Zhang Ren finished speaking did he say leisurely:

"There is another key point. You don't know that the third update just now is past halfway through. Do you know how I knew that Hongfeng is coming soon. Do you remind your soldiers to board the boat in advance?"

Zhang Ren really didn't know about this, because not long ago, he was called by Zhuge Liang's personal guards in his sleep, and then urgently ordered the entire battalion to board the boat and hide in the water. Before the troops were all over, the flood had arrived. If Zhuge Liang had notified him in time, he would have suffered a lot of losses even if he had prevented the fire ship today.

Zhang Renxin begged convincingly: "Please give me advice from Zhuge Sima."

Zhuge Liang pointed at the upstream with a fan bone: "I had expected Jia Xu to attack the water, but I didn't know which day it was. So I ordered the scouts who patrol the night to search upstream every midnight.
To be continued...