Chapter 242 The general trend of dragging the word formula
Chapter 242: Drag word trick, the general trend of the world
In early May of the 13th year of Jian'an, the situation in Jingzhou changed again.
In the direction of Nanyang, Gan Ning retreated to Huangmen Pavilion. Cai Mao ordered Wenpin to attack, while he led the main army south to Jiangling.
Although Wenpin surrendered to Xiangyang, he actually did not want to fight a civil war. Moreover, he and Gan Ning and Shen Chen fought side by side in Yingchuan, so they basically did not work hard.
He led an army of 20,000 troops stationed in Pingshi and Yiqiu areas, just to confront Gan Ning. Everyone knew what Wenpin was thinking, but Xiangyang could not do anything to him. After all, Wenpin had his reasons.
As a general appointed by Liu Biao to be stationed in Nanyang to guard against Cao Cao in the north, Wenpin's status was second only to Cai Hao, Huang Zu and Zhang Yun. Therefore, as long as he said on the surface that he must guard against Cao Cao, Cai Hao, Zhang Yun and the others had nothing to do with him. way.
However, Cai Mao and Kuai Yue were not angry at Wenpin's perfunctory approach. As long as Nanyang was still in their hands and Zhang Yun's main army was still in Xiangyang, a mere Huangmen Pavilion could not cause any trouble.
The most important thing now is Jingnan.
So after Wenpin went south and surrounded Huangmenting, Cai Mao immediately led his troops to Jiangling.
At this moment, in Jiangling City, Cai Mao was holding Liu Bei's letter in his hand. He sneered and said to Hu Zheng beside him: "Liu Bei still wants to mediate. The late emperor asked him to go to Xichuan, but he has been stationed in Zigui. Don't I know? What does he mean?"
"Liu Bei has been writing since the beginning of this year, hoping that Xiangyang would allocate grain and grass. Situ originally wanted to hide the late emperor's death and send him away as soon as possible, so he allocated a lot of grain and grass equipment there."
Hu Zheng said: "I didn't expect that he would stop moving forward. When he came to Xiangyang to pay homage to the late emperor, he had a good relationship with the eldest son. I'm afraid he is acting like this now."
In fact, Liu Bei has not yet fallen out with Xiangyang. Cai Mao and Kuai Yue have always attached great importance to this power. Since Liu Biao's death at the beginning of the year, they have tried every means to urge Liu Bei to enter Sichuan as soon as possible, including using Liu Biao's edict and allocating food and grass to Liu Bei. No excuse to stay.
But Liu Bei has been refusing to leave. Now it is a critical period for Liu Cong and Liu Qi to fight. Although Liu Bei's troops are not large, with only more than 40,000 people, their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated, which also worries Cai Mao and Kuai Yue. Endless.
And the most important thing is that Liu Bei has been mediating as the middleman, neither falling out with Liu Cong nor clearly supporting Liu Qi, which makes it difficult for them to fall out with Liu Bei.
So the current situation is very embarrassing.
Liu Bei stayed in Zigui, Liu Qi still had 30,000 to 40,000 people in Jiangxia, and Liu Pan had more than 20,000 people in Jingnan. If they united at this time, Liu Qi's troops would not be much worse than Liu Cong's. For Xiangyang That's definitely not a good thing.
"What can we do?"
Cai Mao said in a deep voice: "Is it possible that we are still at odds with Liu Bei?"
Hu Zheng smiled bitterly and said: "But he has been in Zigui, so we can't stop attacking Jingnan and Jiangxia. What if he attacks us from the side?"
"this"
Cai Mao's expression suddenly changed. The current situation is that Jingnan is occupied by Liu Pan, Jiangxia is occupied by Liu Qi, and Liu Bei is in Zigui.
Zigui is in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and they are in the lower reaches of Jiangling. If they go south to attack Jingnan or go down the river to attack Jiangxia, Zigui may attack Jiangling at any time, threatening the security of Xiangyang.
Therefore, at least for now, the situation is actually very unfavorable for them. Although they have more than 100,000 troops, due to terrain problems, it is difficult for them to attack no matter which side they attack.
"Uncle."
At this time, Cai Du, Cai Mao's nephew, stood up and said, "My nephew has an idea. I don't know what my uncle thinks."
"oh?"
Cai Mao looked at Cai Du and said quickly: "Speak quickly."
Cai Du thought for a while and said: "Liu Bei is currently mediating on the surface, but I guess he wants to help the eldest prince. However, this is an internal matter in Jingzhou after all. There is no excuse to intervene, so we are waiting for the opportunity. Then why don't we stand still?"
, do you want to keep spending time with him?"
"Consume it?"
Cai Hao asked in confusion: "What does my nephew mean?"
Cai Du said: "What my uncle is worried about is that Jingnan, Jiangxia, and Zigui will attack you. But this situation will only happen when we take the initiative to attack Jingnan. Because most of the troops in Jingzhou are in our hands."
.”
"Um."
Cai Hao nodded slightly in agreement and said: "Yes, if I don't go south, there will be hordes of soldiers and horses in Nanjun. How can Liu Qi and Liu Pan dare to attack us? But what does this have to do with Liu Bei? Do you want to use up his food and grass?"
Cai Du smiled and said: "Over the years, the late emperor has allocated an unknown amount of food and grass to Liu Bei. He also gave him several counties in Jingnan, and all the food and grass belong to them. I don't think he can use it up within two or three years."
We and Liu Bei can afford it, but Liu Zhang cannot afford it."
"Liu Zhang?"
Cai Hao felt confused as to what this had to do with Liu Zhang.
Cai Du continued: "Back then, the late emperor was ambitious and wanted to capture Yizhou in the west and Yangzhou in the east. However, the late emperor was too impatient and kept urging a decisive battle, so that his uncle and Huang Zu failed. Liu Bei is a hero in the clan, and he is just what is missing.
It is a foundation. Now Zhang Lu of Xichuan is approaching Chengdu after repelling his uncle. Liu Zhang is in danger. Once Liu Zhang is destroyed, Yizhou will be all Zhang Lu's. How can Liu Bei not be anxious?"
"You mean Liu Bei wants Yizhou?"
Cai Mao stroked his beard.
Cai Du said: "Exactly, Bashu is a land given by heaven. Liu Bei must have thought that he has a close relationship with the eldest prince. Naturally, he hopes that the lord of Jingzhou will be someone with whom he has a deep friendship. Therefore, Liu Bei must want to help the eldest prince inherit the throne.
The position of Jingzhou, and then Yizhou in the west, thus echoing the eldest prince. If Liu Zhang is destroyed and Zhang Lu gets it, there will be no place for Liu Bei in the world, and he will definitely go to Xichuan first."
"Any news from Yizhou now?"
Cai Hao turned to look at Hu Zheng.
Hu Zheng rummaged through the official documents on his desk for a while, and after a while he pulled out a bamboo slip and said: "The latest news happened two months ago. Zhang Lubing divided into two groups and headed south from Jiameng Pass.
Take Fu County, and then go north along the Jianshui River to attack Niutang."
"ah?"
Cai Hao was very surprised: "This Liu Zhang is too careless. It has only been just four months since I retreated from Bajun, and I was beaten to the gate of Chengdu so quickly? Doesn't that mean Chengdu has fallen?"
"Probably not."
Cai Du analyzed: "Think about it, uncle. After Zhang Lu went south from Bajun, he moved away from the water. There was almost no danger to defend along the Guanghan line. Wouldn't it be faster for him to send troops outside? Therefore, he reduced his troops to Chengdu to divide the east.
With the ridge as the boundary, it is a wise move to block Zhang Lu's army from Chengdu."
Fendongling is the Longquan Mountain Range east of Chengdu in later generations. This mountain range is like a natural chasm that encompasses the Chengdu Plain and separates it from the outside world.
Therefore, Liu Zhang chose to shrink his troops to Chengdu, using the Longquan Mountains as the center of defense.
This is obviously much better than dividing the troops to garrison various cities outside.
After all, once Yizhou is pushed into the Sichuan Basin, it will be almost impossible to defend, and the various cities are very scattered. If the troops are dispersed, they will be defeated one by one. Therefore, they dare not take advantage of the battle between Zhang Lu and Cai Mao.
If he takes the initiative to attack and chooses to defend passively, Liu Zhang's choice is actually the right one.
Cai Du continued: "We have not been paying attention to Yizhou these days because of the matter with the eldest prince, but Liu Bei will definitely send people to find out the news at all times. He can still sit safely in Zigui, which means that at least Zhang
Lu has not threatened Liu Zhang yet, after all, only half a year has passed from the end of last year to now, and Zhang Lu will not eliminate Liu Zhang so quickly."
"Hmm."
Cai Mao nodded and said: "Zi Mu's words are very reasonable."
Hu Zheng also said: "Then should we immediately send people to Xichuan to inquire about the situation? If Liu Zhang changes, Liu Bei will immediately enter Yizhou. Without Liu Qi's foreign aid, we can recapture Jingnan first and then attack Jiangxia. Sun Quan is eager to Huang
Even if the ancestor dies, he will not help him, and then the Taiwei will be able to regain Jingzhou for Your Majesty."
"Actually, we don't have to go to such trouble."
Cai Du said: "If there is a change in Xichuan, Liu Bei will immediately send troops there. With so many Yizhou soldiers under his command, I am afraid that he will be eager to leave all the time. So what we have to do is to garrison Jiangling."
, Jingling and other places, just keep an eye on the eldest prince and Liu Pan, and slowly wait for the opportunity to come."
"good."
Cai Mao laughed and said, "I have a Qilin in my family. Why should Mrs. Cai be unhappy?"
"It's all supported by my uncle."
Cai Du smiled slightly, he was actually a very smart descendant of the Cai family, otherwise Cai Mao would not have trained him like this in the past two years.
But what the world doesn’t know is that Cai Du is Cai Zan’s son and Deng Hong is his brother-in-law.
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In May, Cai Mao stationed troops in Jiangling and Jingling, but did not move.
First, he was building the Yangtze River Navy. Since the Battle of Badong, the Yangtze River Navy was considered semi-disabled. Although the Jiangxia Navy was also semi-disabled, its actual combat experience was much better than that of the Yangtze Navy, so it was already difficult for the Yangtze Navy
Compete with Jiangxia Navy for supremacy.
Secondly, he also needs to wait for the opportunity. Liu Bei is currently staying in Zigui and may be in alliance with Liu Qi at any time. He has to guard against this, so both parties have been wasting their time.
Anyway, Nanyang, the grain production base of Jingzhou, is still in the hands of Xiangyang. Even if there are only two counties of Nanjun and Nanyang, Liu Cong actually has a better foundation.
You must know that the population flowing into Jingzhou from the north at that time was basically in Nanyang and Nanjun. The population of Jiangxia at that time was only more than 200,000. It was very difficult for the Jiangxia Navy to even be self-sufficient.
Historically, when Cao Cao went south, Liu Biao focused most of his energy on the north and had no time to support Huang Zu. As a result, Huang Zu was extremely poor and his army was destitute. He had to do business on the river to barely survive. In the end, he was defeated by Sun Quan, which shows the ruin of Jiangxia.
Therefore, it is not a bad thing for Cai Mao and others to waste it.
After Liu Pan occupied Changsha County, he immediately stationed in Luo County, which later became Miluo City and Xiangyin County in Hunan Province. At that time, the Dongting Lake area here was called Qingcao Lake. It can be said that the water stretches for thousands of miles and is a vast torrent.
.
Dongting Lake in the Han Dynasty was different from the dozens of large and small lakes that were cut into East Dongting Lake, South Dongting Lake, Muping Lake, Southeast Lake, Wanzi Lake and Qili Lake in later generations.
At that time, Dongting Lake had an area of more than 6,000 square kilometers, which was about twice and more than half that of later generations. The water area was very large.
At that time, there was no land reclamation around the lake. Historically, it was expanded once during the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. By the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was already known as the 800-mile Dongting Lake. Therefore, it can be said that this lake encompassed the entire southern and northern Jingzhou.
separated.
By stationing Liu Pan here, he was guarding the port leading from Dongting Lake to the Xiangjiang River. If Cai Mao took the initiative to go south to attack Changsha County, he would have to take a boat and naturally he would have to pass through this place.
The two sides were locked in a stalemate across the Dongting Lake. Although neither side saw the other side's troops, there were scout ships on the vast Dongting Lake all the time looking for news.
Jiangxia, on the other hand, still stood still. After the lack of food and grass from Xiangyang, Jiangxia actually fell into a food and grass crisis. However, although Jingzhou's food and grass were mainly supplied from the Nanyang Basin, Jingnan was also prosperous at this time. After capturing Jingnan
After that, Liu Pan can transport grain and grass to Jiangxia.
Huangzu sent the Jiangxia navy to cruise along the Yangtze River from Dongting Lake to Xiling to protect the safety of the grain road. In this way, Liu Pan and Liu Qi were connected, with troops from both sides, one south and one east, plus Liu Bei's army.
, restraining Cai Hao in the middle.
Time passed quietly in this confrontation between the two sides. Jingzhou seemed to have become peaceful overnight. No one started a war and there was no place to fight. Everything seemed to have happened and nothing happened.
Only the countless letters exchanged secretly among the aristocratic families revealed the undercurrent.
Just when Jingzhou was briefly on strike, Zhang Lu of Yizhou was attacking Niuchang and Fucheng. Fucheng had few soldiers and was finally defeated by Zhang Lu. Zhang Ren, Liu Xun, Liu Sui, Leng Bao and others had to attack.
Retreat to Mianzhu, Luocheng and other places to continue to defend.
Pang Xi was stationed at Niuchang, which was later known as Jianyang City. It was located on the right bank of the Tuojiang River and was surrounded by numerous hills. It was easy to defend but difficult to attack. Zhang Lu could not attack for a long time, and the two sides never came to a conclusion.
Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu were in a stalemate, while Cao Cao in the north was relatively smooth.
He had defeated Yuan Shang by design before and was about to take advantage of the victory to pursue him. However, when he was besieging Ye City, Yuan Tan took advantage of the opportunity and occupied most of the territory of Jizhou. By the time Yuan Shang was beaten and fled north, except for Wei County,
The rest of the place is basically occupied by Yuan Tan.
This made Cao Cao very angry and sent out troops to defeat Yuan Tan. When he was about to eliminate Yuan Tan, he had to retreat back to Chenliu due to a headache. As a result, most of the land in Jizhou was acquired by Yuan Tan.
At the beginning of this year, Cao Cao once again sent troops to the north, and started a battle with Yuan Tan around Wei County. Yuan Tan defended Ye City. The two sides fought for half a year, and the surrounding areas of Ye City were withered and broken.
The originally prosperous Wei County became deserted in just half a year, and there was no human habitation for hundreds of miles.
Historically, Cao Cao flooded the city of Ye, and he planned to do so this time, but Tian Feng was the defender of the city at this time. He saw through this plan and suddenly attacked when Cao Cao's soldiers were digging canals, but Cao Cao was defeated. Therefore, Cao Cao
It has never been conquered.
But in August of the 13th year of Jian'an, more than half a year after attacking Yecheng, Yuan Tan outside the city was defeated by Cao Cao first, causing Yecheng to be isolated and helpless, with no food and grass entering.
Tian Feng's strategy at that time was that Yuan Tan would lead the army and camp outside the city. He would defend the city and the two sides would be able to defeat Cao Cao's attack.
However, Yuan Tan was not strong enough. Even though his military strength was similar to that of Cao Cao, he was defeated by Cao Cao in a head-on battle. This made Yecheng's situation suddenly become very embarrassing. For a time, Jizhou was in turmoil, and Yuan Tan's situation was already very bad.