This time the situation reminded Zhang Baiqi that if they want to attack Jiangnan in the future, the plague may be the biggest enemy they face, even stronger than Liu Bei's hundreds of thousands of troops. After all, their large army can defeat the Han's hundreds of thousands. Dao army, but in the face of the plague, they will definitely be defeated. If there are not enough doctors and herbal preparations, I am afraid that more soldiers will die of illness on the battlefield than soldiers.
It can be said that even if we did not capture much territory in this attack on Jingzhou, the lessons learned from this time can be regarded as the biggest gain. We know what situations we will face when we attack Jiangnan and what preparations we need to make.
There are only more than 200,000 of them now, but already tens of thousands of them have fallen ill. Zhang Baiqi can't imagine how many soldiers will fall ill if they really launch a million-strong army to attack Jiangnan. Will it trigger a plague? How many more people are going to die?
I'm afraid that the great situation that we have been doing may completely collapse due to a plague.
This is not Zhang Baiqi’s wild imagination, but the plague in this era is so terrifying. Many of them are just colds like the flu in modern times, but in this era there is basically no cure, and the patient can only rely on his own immunity. Resist, if you can't bear it, you will die!
Most people in this era lack food and clothing. Even soldiers in the army may be malnourished. In this case, how can a good body be used to resist the virus? In fact, most of them cannot withstand it!
After Zhang Baiqi and Yang Feng discussed it, they decided to report the situation they encountered to Xu Wei in detail. Now they could only leave it to Xu Wei to find a solution. At the same time, they waited for the soldiers in the army to recover before launching a counterattack. Liu Bei's attack!
Youzhou, Ji County.
Zhang Baiqi’s letters quickly reached Xu Wei through flying pigeons.
Xu Wei was shocked by what Zhang Baiqi and the others said: "The soldiers who attacked Nanyang County were actually so seriously ill. Tens of thousands of them fell ill!"
Now Xu Wei has asked Wang Lei and Fan Xian to change the direction of the attack. They will join the army attacking Xuzhou and attack Jiujiang County in Yangzhou and Jiangxia County in Jingzhou respectively. They want to use such a multi-channel attack method to make it difficult for Liu Bei to finish!
So he decided to take advantage of the momentum of the army to completely pull out Liu Bei's stronghold north of the Yangtze River, push the battle line directly to the north of the Yangtze River, and approach the city to prepare for the next attack on Jiangnan! But he did not expect that his Before the army reached the south of the Yangtze River, Zhang Baiqi and others received such bad news.
Then Xu Weiyou rejoiced: "Fortunately, the outbreak did not occur in the Yangzhou area. When Fan Xian's navy arrives in Yangzhou, they will probably bring us good news!"
Xu Wei knew that Jiangnan has a vast terrain, numerous waterways, and complex terrain, with both hilly terrain and swamps. Today's Jiangnan is not a fertile land that will be attacked and developed by later generations, but most of the area is in a barren land, with only There is only a little bit of civilization around the city. Such Jiangnan can be said to be a fragmented area. Even if Xu Wei has more troops, it will be difficult to defeat Liu Bei at once. It is basically impossible. Xu Wei can only do it step by step. Slowly devour Liu Bei's territory!
It can be said that since he eliminated Cao Cao, the model of fighting for world hegemony has begun to change. The cavalry has basically withdrawn from the stage of fighting for world hegemony, changing from the protagonist to a supporting role. In the future, they can only find borders in areas such as Liangzhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou.
In order to be able to use them, there is still a need for cavalry in the Western Regions, but on the battlefield of attacking Jiangnan, the role of cavalry is extremely small, so we must prepare to start reducing the size of the cavalry.
As for the infantry, they are still useful, but because they want to attack the land south of the Yangtze River, the infantry from the north is basically useless. In this era, if the climate is not suitable for the country, it may kill people. It is difficult for the soldiers from the north to serve the anger of the south of the Yangtze River.
Even the soldiers from the Central Plains area must be recruited from the areas close to the Jianghuai River, and the infantry from these areas will be used as the main force to attack Liu Bei. If these soldiers are not trained, it will not be short, and it will not be possible within two or three years.
At the same time, the navy began to become the main battle force. During this period, Jiangnan had not been developed to any extent. The rivers were wide, there were many swamps, and there were many lakes. This was the situation in Jiangnan at this time. Even before Liu Bei developed Nanjun, there was
Xiangyang is a large swamp.
Cao Cao was defeated in the Battle of Chibi. When he wanted to retreat, he encountered a swamp and almost couldn't return to the Central Plains. This is Nanjun, which is close to the Yangtze River. The level of development is so high. The counties further into Jingzhou are even more wild.
The Yangzhou area is not much worse than Jingzhou. In later generations, it was the territory of 6 provinces. It has many rivers, swamps and lakes, but not a large population. The practicality of boats here exceeds that of horse-drawn carriages! You can only fight with water in such a place.
military.
After seeing this, Wang Ge worriedly said: "The Jiangnan area has indeed been plagued by plague in recent years, and our army has to pay attention to this situation. The soldiers in Jiangnan may still have some resistance to the plague, but basically all our soldiers are
The soldiers from the Central Plains are a little acclimated to the land of Jiangnan. If the plague breaks out again, our army may be defeated by Liu Bei. In power, if we don't stop the southern expedition now and wait for the Jiangnan plague
After this is over, we will attack Jiangnan again!"
But Xu Wei shook his head and said: "Fan Xian and Wang Lei have brought hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Yangzhou. If we recall the army just because of the epidemic in Jingzhou, it will definitely affect the morale of the army! And our army is not
Going deep into the south of the Yangtze River is not about occupying the land north of the Yangtze River and laying the foundation for our army's next attack on the south of the Yangtze River. Although diseases are prevalent in the south of the Yangtze River, they rarely enter the area north of the Yangtze River!"
Jia Xu thought for a while and said: "In the past dynasties, soldiers from the Central Plains and Hebei were used to attack the north, but soldiers from the south were generally used to attack the south, just to prevent acclimatization."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Back then, the First Emperor sent an elite army to attack Lingnan, but not many of the Qin army were killed by the barbarians in Lingnan, and most of them died from the epidemic in Lingnan. This greatly damaged the Qin Dynasty's vitality.
, so that when the world was in chaos later, the Qin Dynasty, which had millions of troops, could only rely on prisoners to attack the remnants of the Six Kingdoms, and the government had to guard against the mistakes of the First Emperor."
"We have now completely annexed the entire Central Plains. We can recruit hundreds of thousands of troops in Yuzhou, Xuzhou and even near Luoyang, which are close to the Central Plains, to prepare for our attack on Jiangnan."
Wang Ge thought for a while and said: "Jingzhou has indeed been plagued by evil in recent years, especially the epidemic and its rampage. My subordinates feel that most of the Han Dynasty has been occupied by us. Even if Liu Bei occupies a remote place in the south of the Yangtze River,
But it’s just a matter of lingering. We don’t have to rush to capture the south of the Yangtze River. We should wait a few years until we have enough food and grass and the army is properly trained. It won’t be too late to attack the land south of the Yangtze River.”
Now that there is a dangerous epidemic situation in Jiangnan, Wang Ge also feels that this is not the time to attack Jiangnan. At the very least, he should wait until the epidemic has passed for a few years before coming to Jiangnan.
He was really extremely afraid of the plague. Back then, he was a commoner in Jizhou. When the plague broke out in Jizhou, he was the only one left in his family who died, and 30% of his village also died.
This was because the Great Master sent his disciples to save their village. Otherwise, he couldn't imagine how many people would have died. It was because of this experience that he was even more afraid of the plague.
Although the morale of the Daqian army is high now, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers rushing towards the Han army's front lines, attacking and killing fiercely, if they are infected with the plague, no matter how brave the soldiers are, they will be of no use, and the Daqian army will suffer heavy casualties!
Xu Weidao: "Send a team of doctors with the most skillful medical skills from Jizhou to support them. First let Zhang Baiqi and others stand by. At the same time, let Fan Xian and Wang Lei pay attention to the situation of the plague. If there is such a situation, stop the southward attack.
pace."
At this time, after Cao Cao surrendered, Wang Lei's army rested for three days, then went directly south to Xuzhou, joined Xuzhou's attacking army, and then divided into two groups to attack all the way towards Jiujiang County.
When Xu Wei's order was issued to the front line, Wang Lei and the others did not pay attention. After all, the epidemic was in Jingzhou, not Yangzhou. Yangzhou was thousands of miles away from Nanyang County, and they did not believe that the epidemic would come here!
As for Fan Xian and his navy, because they defeated Cao Cao's army, it can even be said that the navy took the main credit for Cao Cao's fall. It can be said that the naval officers and soldiers are now as powerful as a rainbow, and after he accepted Cao Cao's navy, he immediately led 100,000
The army marched all the way along the coast of Xuzhou and then rushed into the Huaihe River Basin.
Under the command of Fan Xian, the Daqian Navy advanced on both land and water, and the two armies immediately engaged in a fierce confrontation. The Yangzhou Army lost all its energy. Not only did Guan Yu not be the leader, Guan Yu also took away a large number of elite troops, so that at this time,
Jiujiang County has a serious shortage of troops to defend the Daqian Army and is no match for the Daqian Army.
It can be said that Fan Xian was extremely lucky, because his navy marched so fast that the Han army had no time to defend itself. By the time Fan Xian arrived in the Jianghuai area, the entire Jianghuai area's defense was at its weakest.
, Fan Xian called in suddenly.
He cooperated with the troops attacking Xuzhou and attacked by land and water. The defense troops in Yangzhou were caught off guard and retreated steadily. Many of the defensive offensives built by Liu Bei failed to work at all and were conquered by Fan Xian and others. The Jianghuai defense line was at Fan Xian.
In front of the idle navy, it was like a blank piece of paper. It was broken with one blow. Most of Jiujiang County and Lujiang County fell in an instant, and the Huaihe River defense line fell completely.
It was at this critical moment that Guan Yu had already led his guards back to Yangzhou. After he discovered that Yangzhou was in danger of completely falling, he integrated his army and asked Huang Zhong for help. Huang Zhong also knew the importance of the Jianghuai defense line, although he could not send out The infantry supported Guan Yu, but all 10,000 Jiangxia Commandery naval forces were sent to support Guan Yu, and at the same time they asked Liu Bei for help!
After Guan Yu received Huang Zhong's naval assistance, he began to lead Yangzhou's naval forces to fight Fan Xian and others.
The Yangzhou Army was originally formed by Guan Yu himself. At the same time, Guan Yu was a powerful general with ten thousand enemies. No one in the entire Yangzhou Army was Guan Yu's opponent. The most admired generals in the army were also such powerful generals. After Guan Yu came to Yangzhou, rewards and punishments were clear. , he himself is also a very charismatic military commander, and everyone admires Guan Yu very much, so the Yangzhou Army's combat effectiveness is still extremely strong in Guan Yu's hands. But now that Guan Yu has come back, Yangzhou has immediately found its backbone, and its combat effectiveness has immediately improved. A level.
At this time, Daqian's army had already attacked Shucheng and other places in depth. After Guan Yu came back, he immediately strengthened the army defenses in Shucheng, Juchao and other places, and ordered the navy from all over the river to gather at Caishiji. The battle line was stabilized in Shucheng, Juchao and other places. Nest line.
After the war situation stabilized, Guan Yu did not sit still and wait for death, because he wanted to recapture the Jianghuai defense line. Although there was no saying at this period that defending the Yangtze River must defend the Huaihe River, Guan Yu had been fighting for decades, and his military experience told him that if he could not recapture the Huaihe River, the Yangtze River would be Extremely dangerous.
So Guan Yu and his many generals tried to find ways to restore their passive strategic situation. After a while of deliberation, Guan Yu placed the opportunity to turn defeat into victory on the navy.
He knew that the Yangzhou Army did not have an advantage in land warfare, and could even be said to be weak. After all, the Daqian Army had been victorious for more than ten years, and it could be said that it had never been defeated on land. The Yangzhou Army's morale and morale were now at a loss. In a sluggish situation, and even without an advantage in terms of army numbers, Guan Yu understood that it would be difficult for the Yangzhou Army to win a land battle.
After Guan Yu and everyone thought about it, they found that they still had an advantage over the navy.
Although the Daqian Navy has a larger navy than Guan Yu, the warships in Fan Xian's hands are not only large, but also equipped with an extremely large number of artillery. Judging from the previous battles between the Yangzhou Navy and the Daqian Navy, these ships The warships of the division. The warships approaching the Daqian Army will be bombarded to pieces.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! But this does not mean that Guan Yu’s navy has no advantages. Guan Yu and the others observed several water battles and keenly discovered that the navy of the Daqian Army was adapted to navigation These ships are not only sturdy, but also extremely large. This is an advantage at sea, but it is a disadvantage in rivers. Because the water level in the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers is low and the rivers are narrow, the bigger the navy in Daqian is, the less flexible it is! These have become disadvantages in the Jianghuai region.
Guan Yu's navy was different. Their main battle direction was to fight in the Huaihe and Yangtze River areas. They basically used flat-bottomed boats. Although there were also large ships, they were not many in number and most of them were small boats. Although these warships were small, But they are large in number, fast, and flexible in turning, so they are suitable for the Yangtze and Huaihe waterways.
Guan Yu really seized on the flaw of the Daqian Army. He concentrated all Yangzhou naval forces and took advantage of the flexibility of small boats. He took the initiative to launch battles against the Daqian Navy in the Jianghuai area many times.
Guan Yu used small warships to carry fire starters, waited for the warships to approach the ships of the Daqian Army, ignited the boats on them, and used a suicide attack to rush towards the ships of the Daqian Army. Although Fan Xian bombarded these ships with artillery. However, Guan Yu had prepared hundreds of these fire-igniting boats at once, and it was impossible for Fan Xian's artillery to sink them all.
In this water battle, Fan Xian's ship artillery did not exert its power at all. More than a dozen warships were completely set on fire. Then Guan Yu used this tactic to defeat Fan Xian three times in a row, and the Daqian Navy was completely kicked out of the Jianghuai River. place.
After Guan Yu defeated the navy of the Daqian Army, the waterways in the Yangtze and Huaihe areas became Guan Yu's transportation roads. Guan Yu ordered the Yangzhou army to hold on to the city, while the navy transported troops and concentrated its forces in small areas many times to attack the big areas. The weak area of the Gan Army cut off the food route of the large Gan Army. Wang Lei was exhausted from the attack.
Wang Lei wanted to send troops to completely encircle Guan Yu's army, but Guan Yu seized on the flaw and concentrated his superior forces to annihilate several large armies. Without the support of the navy, Wang Lei's army was unable to move forward in the Jianghuai area.