Chapter 189 Burning the Camp for Seven Hundred Miles
Chapter 189 Burning Camp for Seven Hundred Miles
Samoko's strength was immense, and he was at a young age when he was afraid of boxing. He should have been strong.
But Zhao Yun was only in his thirties, still in his prime, and his martial arts skills were extremely superb, so Shamoko was naturally no match for him.
The barbarians have always surrendered to the strong, and Shen Chen also gave them a lot of gold, silver and cloth. At that time, they all agreed to Shen Chen's proposal to jointly send troops.
At the end of July, everyone started taking action according to the discussed route.
The Youxi barbarian coalition formed together, with more than 3,000 people, and went north along the Dian River from Lingyang to Daya, which was almost the area from Cili County to Hefeng County in later generations.
The road at this point is relatively easy to drive. There is a road used by local people, and you only need to open it along the road.
But it becomes difficult after arriving in Dayao.
Because everything from the north of Hefeng County is vast deep mountains and old forests, even the local Youxi barbarians rarely set foot in this area. There are countless mountains and ridges, and walking into it is like being lost in a maze.
Moreover, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are in the rainy season at this time, and there are often heavy rains, which makes their movements very slow.
Although Liu Biao often sent people to urge him, the current situation was like this and there was nothing they could do. After all, they couldn't really be allowed to fight against Liu Zhang who occupied the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
Historically, Liu Bei fought for two years even though he had internal support. If it was really hard work, it is estimated that four or five years of fighting may not produce results.
In comparison, walking through the mountains and forests from Wuling to attack Liu Zhang's army from behind is already considered the most reliable.
Therefore, even if Liu Biao was anxious, there was nothing he could do.
So in the next few months, Shen Chen and the Youxi barbarians worked hard to open a road deep in the mountains. It took four months until the end of the ninth year of Jian'an to finally reach the Shaqu area north of Yishui. .
This is the Jianshi County area to the north of Enshi Prefecture in later generations. The situation is much better when we get here. We follow the Hongyan River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, all the way north, and finally reach the river south of Wu County.
The barbarians who were sent there reported back. If they stood on the top of the mountain and looked at both sides of the river from a distance, they could even see the Yizhou soldiers escorting grain and grass coming and going on the road along the river bank.
In January of the 10th year of Jian'an, that is, at the beginning of 206 AD, after spending nearly five months, Shen Chen finally opened a road that bypassed the back of Liu Zhang's army.
Liu Bei's army had already stationed troops in Xiaoling before. After asking Liu Biao for a large amount of supplies and equipment, he officially set off.
In February of the 10th year of Jian'an, the army passed through the Shaqu, went north along the Hongyan River, and arrived at the south bank of the Yangtze River.
Since ancient times, the route from Jingzhou to the west along the bank of the Yangtze River has been considered the best way to enter Sichuan. However, even so, the mountains on both sides are towering and steep, and the mountains are extremely dangerous.
There is only a path in the deep mountains and forests on the south bank of the river that can accommodate two people walking side by side, and it is barely passable.
Liu Bei and Shen Chen joined forces. At this moment, the army was still stationed in Shaqu in the rear. A few dozen of their generals came to watch. They climbed over the mountains and ridges and reached a mountain ridge to look into the distance.
I saw a low hill at the foot of the mountain. There were a large number of military tents and simple camps densely packed on the plains around the hill.
This is probably the Peishi Township area of Wushan County in later generations. Walking more than 20 kilometers eastward will lead to Badong County, Hubei Province in later generations, and then walking more than 20 kilometers further will be Zigui County.
Surrounded by dense mountain forests, there are hundreds of Yizhou soldiers scattered around the camp, and some warehouses and supplies are piled on the road.
"This is a frontline supply camp for Liu Zhang's army."
Shen Chen looked into the distance.
The Battle of Yiling took place on both the north and south banks of the Yangtze River. Liu Bei's troops in the north of the Yangtze River were commanded by Huang Quan and were stationed at Yiling. He himself was stationed in the south of the Yangtze River, at Xiaoting.
At this time, Cai Mao occupied Yiling, Jingmen Mountain, Huya Mountain and other places, making it impossible for Liu Zhang to invade from either the north or south of the Yangtze River.
Therefore, the main force of Liu Zhang's army is now stationed in the Zigui County area, and it is not Zigui in the later generations, but Zigui in the Han Dynasty.
Zigui County in later generations was located on the south side of the Yangtze River, while in the Han Dynasty it was located on the north bank of the river, and was still far away from Zigui County in later generations. In the Guizhou Town area of Zigui County in later generations, it was very close to Badong County.
This also means that the main force of Liu Zhang's army at that time was actually stationed in the area from Badong County to Guizhou Town in Zigui County, which stretched for more than 100 kilometers.
Just like Liu Bei's battle at Yiling, there were countless supplies and small camps like this along the way. Farmers transporting food and boats transporting food on the river could be seen everywhere. The war that lasted for more than a year also made Liu Zhang's army travel a long distance. Suffered a lot.
"It's really difficult to fight on both sides of the Yangtze River."
When Liu Bei saw this scene, he sighed: "Not only are the roads difficult and dangerous, there are countless mountains and forests, but there is not even a piece of flat land. I am afraid that even if a war breaks out, it will be difficult to annihilate the enemy. They can retreat to the mountains and forests at any time."
"That's hard to say."
Shen Chen glanced at Liu Bei and said: "Because the road is difficult, a large number of supply camps must be arranged along the route to transport food and grass to the front line. Once these camps are continuously pulled out and attacked with fire, no matter how many troops there are, the entire army will be destroyed." Overturned."
Liu Bei was surprised and said: "The moisture on both sides of the Jingzhou River is extremely heavy. Even if you light a fire in the mountains and forests, you may not be able to burn it. Is it useful to attack it with fire?"
There are countless mountains and forests on both sides of the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges area, and they are extremely dense. However, there have never been fires in history. Even the Luxun Fire Camp for 700 miles did not cause wildfires. This is because the humidity here is extremely heavy, unless napalm bombs are used. , otherwise it would be almost impossible to burn it.
Shen Chen said: "With fish paste and hay, we only need to burn down the grain and grass camp. The enemy's grain and grass camp in the rear is in Wu County. We should divide our troops into two groups. I will lead the army to raid Wu County. The general can lead people The camp was burned for seven hundred miles!"
This is the tactical plan laid out by Shen Chen.
He observed it for a long time and found that Lu Xun's tactics were really incompetent and were a perfect tactic for the special terrain here.
Due to terrain restrictions, the troops attacking Hubei from Sichuan were unable to launch operations on a large scale and could only be squeezed into small mountainous areas. Therefore, when setting up camp, they had to stretch for dozens of kilometers.
In particular, Liu Zhang's army had penetrated into Jingzhou, a straight-line distance of 200 to 300 kilometers, and the actual distance traveled was more than 400 to 500 kilometers, requiring a large number of supply lines along the way.
These supply points are densely distributed on both sides of the Yangtze River. If they are burned all the way, the main force of the Yizhou Army stationed on the front line in Badong County and Zigui County will face the risk of being cut off and losing food and grass. No wonder Liu Bei You Yiling was defeated miserably.
When Xu Shu heard Shen Chen's words, his eyes lit up and he said: "Ah Chen's plan is very good. Now that the rainy season has passed, although both sides of the river are still wet, with fish paste and hay, we only need to burn the enemy's camp and food."
"We have agreed to launch an attack at the same time as Cai Mao on February 10th. We have not fully figured out the distribution of the enemy's grain and grass camps yet. We should send people to continue to investigate."
Shen Chen touched his chin. Although he was not yet 18 years old, he had already grown a small amount of beard, giving him a bit of a green beard.
"Master, I'm going!"
Shan Yi stood up and volunteered: "I feel like walking on flat ground in this mountain. The people of Yizhou will definitely not be able to find me."
Shamoko laughed and said, "Do you know the road?"
"You know him?"
Shan Yi looked at him with disdain. The two were about the same age and both were tall and built. After meeting each other, they had no intention of getting close to each other. Instead, they disliked each other.
Shamoko patted his chest and said, "Although I don't know him, there are people in my clan who know him. The old people came to the north to hunt before."
"Then let's go to Samoko."
Shen Chen looked at Shan Yi and said, "Yide, come with me to attack Wu County."
"yes."
Shan Yi glanced at Samoko unwillingly, and became even more unhappy when he saw the other party's complacency.
At that moment, Shen Chen assigned the task.
Shamoke led several local Youxi barbarians to the east to explore the supply points and camp locations along Liu Zhang's army, while Shen Chen led the Huangmen soldiers to attack Wu County in the north of the Yangtze River.
However, ships were needed to attack the north side of the river, so some temporary ships had to be built to cross the river.
Fortunately, it was only the second day of February. After they finally opened the road into the mountain last month, they sent someone to inform Cai Hao and asked him to launch an attack together on February 10th.
Such a two-sided attack will definitely defeat Liu Zhang's army.
There are now eight days until February 10th, and he still has some time to build a boat to cross the river.
After returning to Shaqu, with an order, nearly 30,000 troops began building ships. They didn't need to be big, just small ones that could seat a dozen people.
There are no strong winds or waves in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Except for a few places where the water is turbulent, most of it is relatively gentle. An ordinary awning boat can easily cross the Yangtze River, which is less than one mile from north to south.
Compared with the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which has strong winds and waves and far wider widths on both sides of the river, the Yangtze River section in the Three Gorges area is no different from an ordinary river except for the countless high mountains on both sides.
In just one day, the army built hundreds of ships, and spent the rest of the time collecting hay and firewood.
They brought a batch of fish paste.
In fact, if only the army came here, Shen Chen would not need to spend nearly half a year to open up the mountain road.
There are no major roads, but the paths along the river or the Youxi Man Hunter Mountain Forest Trail can still lead to the Yangtze River.
But the reason why we have to go through so much trouble is to be able to deliver supplies and food.
Therefore, they are not short of fish paste now.
Soon the time came to the early morning of February 10th. When the sky was just getting dark, Shen Chen had already led three thousand Huangmen soldiers and rowed along the Hongyan River and entered the Yangtze River.
It was mid-spring in February, and a thin layer of white mist rose on the Three Gorges Yangtze River in the early morning, covering the river and making the view unclear.
Liu Zhang's troops on both sides of the Taiwan Strait were sleeping, completely unaware of the approaching danger.
After entering the Yangtze River, according to the original plan, they began to paddle to the other side of the river, and they still drifted down the river and drifted diagonally to a beach on the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Shen Chen got off the boat, followed by Shen Tao, Shan Yi, Wu Dang and others. Shen Zhen, Deng Zhao and others led the soldiers. When all the soldiers gathered, the soldiers set off lightly and dived into the deep mountains and old forests towards Wushan Mountain. Heading in the direction.
At the same time, Liu Bei's army also quietly approached the camp that was detected a few days ago, which was later known as the Peishi Township area of Wushan County. At this moment, the people in the camp did not notice the danger at all.
It was impossible for an army of tens of thousands to spread out in such a mountainous area. Having more people would be a bad thing, so Liu Bei divided his troops.
He asked Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Tai Shici and others to lead their own troops and horses. Under the leadership of Samoko and other Youxi barbarian guides, they crossed the mountains and ridges and set off to various camps along the way.
Liu Bei himself took Chen Dao with only a thousand elite troops and launched a surprise attack on the camp.
The soldiers approached slowly.
When they reached the edge of the camp, maybe because they were at the rear, Liu Zhang's army was relatively lax, and the camp gate was not even closed, but was left open.
Everyone slowly entered the camp, and suddenly a sharp shout rang out: "Enemy attack!"
It turned out that it was a Yizhou soldier who had the advantage of getting up early. He vaguely saw some dark figures slowly coming in through the fog at the entrance of the camp, and quickly issued a warning.
"kill!"
Seeing that he was exposed, Liu Bei immediately raised his sword and shouted.
"kill!"
The soldiers rushed into the camp and hacked and killed.
The whole camp suddenly fell into chaos. The Yizhou soldiers were caught off guard. A few of the resisters were killed, and most of them surrendered.
After capturing this group of troops and tying them up, Liu Bei waved his hand and said: "Burn!"
It immediately caught fire.
Then, under the leadership of Shamoko, they continued to set off towards the front.
Liu Zhang's army was indeed the same as Liu Bei's in the Battle of Yiling, stretching over hundreds of miles of mountainous terrain with camps and supply points everywhere.
The terrain severely limits the combat effectiveness of their army, so they can only station them like this.
But starting yesterday, Cai Hao's Jingzhou Army began to attack Liu Zhang's army, advancing both by land and water. Liu Zhang's general Wu Yi summoned troops and horses to start a battle with Cai Hao.
This makes the already empty rear area even more empty. There are still hundreds of people guarding important places, and there are even only dozens of people at ordinary supply points.
Stretching for hundreds of kilometers, there are dozens of supply camps with countless supplies of food and grass, but there are very few people guarding them, and most of them are civilians.
In fact, although the actual strength of the army sent by Liu Zhang was only 30,000, it was said to be 100,000, and its number was 60,000 to 70,000, but most of them were civilians and were used to transport grain and grass.
These civilians basically had no fighting ability. After Liu Bei's army came over, they all surrendered.
Liu Bei did not kill these people, but sent people to guard them on the spot, and then continued to attack all the way forward.
There were shouts of death and smoke from fires everywhere on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
At this time, Wu Yi, the commander-in-chief of the Yizhou Army in Yiling, which was hundreds of kilometers away, naturally did not know what was going on in the rear.
The Jingzhou Army suddenly started attacking, which really caught him off guard.
However, he immediately adjusted and mobilized troops from the rear, quickly delaying Cai Mao's progress.
During the Battle of Yiling, Liu Bei's army occupied Yiling, while Jiangdong's army was in Yidao County in the south. The distance between the two sides was fifty kilometers.
In this battle, the Jingzhou Army occupied Yiling, and its approximate location was actually the Xiaoting District of Yichang City in later generations. Jingmen City and Huya Mountain were also garrisoned by him.
Where is Liu Zhangjun?
To the north of Yiling, the area of Yiling District located north of Yichang City in later generations was also the location where Huang Quan's troops were stationed in the Battle of Yiling.
At the same time, Wu Yi also had troops stationed in Gezhouba, Xiba, and the Dian Military District on the left bank of the river.
In other words, the distance between the two sides is actually more than thirty kilometers away.
Cai Mao's attack method was to advance both by land and water, with the main ships heading westward and directly taking Xiba.
Xiba was called Xilingzhou in the Han Dynasty. Bu Chan, the son of Bu Zhao, was the governor of Xiling and built a city on Xiba.
Of course there is no city now, but there are soldiers and horses of Liu Zhang's army.
When the large ships of the Jingzhou Navy were sailing on the river, Wu Yi knew that the enemy was going to attack Xiling Island and there were few people on the island, so he immediately sent people to evacuate the people on the island.
At the same time, he sent a message to the rear, ordering all the troops and horses from Zigui to Yiling to come over and prepare for a decisive battle.
By the time Cai Mao's army arrived, the people on the island had already evacuated.
Cai Mao sent people to occupy the island, destroyed Wu Yi's camp, and abandoned his ship ashore.
Neither side stationed troops in Yiling City, because Yiling County in the Han Dynasty was not located on the riverside, but in the mountains more than ten kilometers southeast of Yichang City, which had little strategic significance.
At this time, Cai Mao's army of 20,000 Yangtze River watermen disembarked, and the two sides faced off on a rare alluvial fan plain on the north bank of the Yangtze River in the urban area of Yichang City in later generations.
Wu Yi formed a camp to defend himself. Both sides formed their formations and fired a hail of arrows at each other.
After Wu Yi's rear reinforcements arrived in the afternoon, he finally launched a counterattack.
He had a total of 30,000 troops, with nearly 10,000 troops deployed along the rear and 20,000 at the front. They gathered together and began to advance.
Cai Mao also issued the order for a general offensive, and the two sides launched a decisive battle in the urban area of Yichang City.
The war lasted for several hours. When it was getting dark, Cai Mao wanted to retreat. Unexpectedly, Wu Yi actually sent people from the mountains to the east to go around the rear of Cai Mao's army and cut off their retreat.
The people of Bashu have always been good at climbing mountains and ridges, so this matter is not a problem.
The people of Jingzhou were stronger in water warfare, and Cai Mao did not expect that Wu Yi would send people to climb over the mountains and circle to his rear. After attacking from both sides, the front army was defeated in panic and hurriedly ran to the river bank.
"Chase!"
Wu Yi, who was standing on a hill not far away and looking over the whole situation, saw this scene, waved his hand and ordered the soldiers to pursue him.
The number of their soldiers and horses was actually about the same, but the water and land battles were indeed inferior to the infantry. Therefore, Cai Mao suffered heavy casualties and was attacked from both sides. If nothing unexpected happened, he would definitely be annihilated by Wu Yi.
But accidents always come so suddenly.
At that time, everyone was looking at the battlefield to the south. Only a guard standing next to Wu Yi glanced to the northwest, and then looked at the battlefield.
But after a few seconds, the guard suddenly felt something was wrong, and quickly turned his head to look northwest again.
He saw thick smoke rising and flames burning in the northwest sky.
Night has fallen, and the afterglow of the evening is only a little bit of light brought by the burning clouds.
But the sky in the northwest really looked like a fire was burning, with thick smoke billowing straight into the sky, and occasionally a little flame could be seen.
"Will"
The guard said to Wu Yi with almost trembling teeth: "General!"
"What's the matter?"
Wu Yi was still watching the battlefield to the south.
He saw that the Jingzhou Army was rushing to the riverside boats in panic under the attack of the Yizhou Army. Defeat would be inevitable sooner or later.
The guard trembled and said: "General, look to the northwest!"
"Um?"
Wu Yi raised his head and looked to the northwest.