On November 3, the 13th year of Jian'an, in the early morning, from the end of sunrise to the beginning of eclipse, we were outside Yiyang City, Changsha County, Jingzhou.
In the dark clouds and hazy dusk, the rain that had been falling for many days suddenly stopped, and a few long-lost slanting rays of the morning sun shone through the thick dark clouds on the rain-soaked land.
Cai Mao's army has moved from Zikou to the foot of Yiyang City, more than 20 miles away, to the wilderness plain in the northeast corner about four miles away from the city.
There is smoke from cooking utensils everywhere in the camp. After the morning mist dissipates, you can see the smoke rising from Yiyang City. Further south, there is another camp on the south bank of Lanxi River in the southeast corner of Yiyang City.
Tower.
A high oar was built above the camp, and two people stood on it, one was Guan Yu and the other was Zhuge Liang.
At this time, Guan Yu was wearing a green robe, and the hat on his head was also green. The Qinglong Yanyue Sword was placed in the hands of Zhou Cang under the high oar. The others stood on the high oar, standing majestically in the cold wind.
Zhuge Liang was wearing a gray and black fox fur, with a sapphire blue silk cloak underneath, and a light green robe underneath. He looked like an elegant young man, looking far to the north.
"Military advisor, will Cai Hao really attack today?"
Guan Yu looked at the enemy camp seven or eight miles away. Yesterday, Cai Mao had moved the camp outside Yiyang City. There were only more than 6,000 horses in Yiyang City. Including their army, there were only more than 16,000 people.
Cai Mao now has an army of 25,000, plus Zhou Bo and Sun Yi's more than 10,000 troops in the rear, as well as Han Xi's navy on the lake, the total force is close to 50,000.
With such a huge gap in troops, Guan Yu did not choose to attack rashly, but instead stood firm in Lanxi and Yiyang, waiting for the enemy to attack.
"Your Majesty, you must understand that since Cai Mao has taken the initiative to attack Jingnan, he must fight quickly."
After hearing what he said, Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Because the lord is likely to come back at any time, he will take a detour from Yiyang to attack Linxiang. We are blocked here, and Cai Mao will be unable to move even an inch."
"Hmm."
Guan Yu nodded, stroked his beard and said, "What if he attacks the city first?"
"Although there are fewer soldiers in the city, the city is also stronger. Attacking the city will take a long time, so it is more convenient to attack the camp."
Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "What's more, if you think about it, if you are Cai Mao, the city will be difficult to attack but the camp will be easy to attack. When you attack the city, more soldiers and horses from the camp will come to support, making it difficult to defend. When you attack the camp, there will be few soldiers in the city."
Even if they come to support, it will be easier to repel it, and it is even possible to counterattack the city. Will the monarch choose to do the easy thing first and then the hard thing, or do the hard thing first and then the easy thing?"
"The military advisor is right. It seems that Cai Hao will attack my camp first."
Guan Yu pondered for a moment, nodded slightly, and then laughed at himself: "I just didn't expect that I, Guan Yu, am so powerful in the north. In the eyes of others, I will become someone who can be easily broken. This is a new thing."
Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "That's because the general didn't raise a flag. Naturally, Cai Mao didn't know that the general was guarding here. If he knew, he would not dare to invade. Even if he came, the general was here, but he didn't come.
Return."
"Hahahahaha."
Guan Yu stroked his beard and laughed loudly: "Sister, don't play tricks on me. Although I have a little reputation, I also know that everyone in the world thinks that I am just a common man. What should I be afraid of? But the military counselor is right in one sentence.
Great cause, if Cai Mao dares to come, I will teach him how to come and never come back!"
"This is natural, but you still have to be careful."
Zhuge Liang reminded: "Cai Mao has a large number of people and may send people to Jingling to find Zhang Yun as reinforcements. We should not underestimate him."
Guan Yu smiled and said: "Huang Zhong is guarding Yiyang City, and we are on the south bank of Lanxi River. We both have barriers and are horns against each other. Although Cai Mao has many people, I will never be afraid of him."
"The lord is brave and admirable. With the words lord, Liang can rest assured and go to Luo County to arrange things."
Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "I just want to remind you before leaving. The king must remember that no matter how Cai Mao provokes outside the camp, do not leave the camp. War requires timing, so you must not miss it!"
"Come on, military advisor."
Guan Yu narrowed his eyes and looked at Cai Mao's camp in the north, with confidence in his tone: "For my brother's great cause, there is nothing to be afraid of even if your body is broken into pieces!"
"Then leave everything to the Lord!"
Zhuge Liang cupped his hands with a smile, then turned around and walked down the stairs, still keeping a smile on his face.
What he admired most was Guan Yu.
Although he is proud, he is not the kind of arrogant and contemptuous of everything.
It's the kind of pride where everything is ready and victory is certain. Although the enemy is outnumbered, we only need to take adequate precautions and have a clear mind, and we can still despise the enemy's pride.
This is pride!
Blind and ignorant pride is called arrogance, but having a clear understanding of the enemy and ourselves is an admirable quality!
After Zhuge Liang left, he took a boat all the way east to Luo County to prepare for the overall situation.
At the end of the meal, when the warm morning sun fell on the earth, there was already a lot of noise in the direction of Cai Mao's camp.
With the sound of ping ping war drums and horns, in several camps that were horns with each other, groups of soldiers walked out from the camp gates in neat lines, stringing their bows, unsheathing their swords, holding spears in their hands, and marching
Neat pace.
They arranged numerous square formations of different sizes in the wilderness about two miles northeast of Yiyang City, and then headed south, seemingly intending to attack the city gate from the east city.
However, Guan Yu, who was watching the battle on a high oar above Lanxi Camp a few miles away, issued an order. He said to the deputy general Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao beside him: "Send the order to the entire army to be on alert!"
alert?
Zhou Cang wondered: "General, shouldn't we go out to rescue the city?"
Guan Yu stroked his beard and laughed and said: "Hahaha, they are coming for us. What are they doing out of camp? Should we abandon the camp and fight them in the wild?"
"Coming for us?"
Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao felt that Monk Zhang Er was confused.
Aren't they planning to attack the city on the other side?
"Look."
Guan Yu pointed to the distance and said: "If the enemy wants to attack the city, how can he not have siege equipment? Although Yiyang City is not high, it is still a city and is surrounded by water. There is not even a moat bridge. How can we cross the moat?"
"But we are on the south bank of Zishui and surrounded by the tributary Lanxi River. Isn't it even more difficult to fight?"
Zhou Cang was puzzled.
Guan Yu said: "It's not easy to cross the river. They have many ships. Just cross the river from the lower reaches. Just watch and send the order. The whole camp is on alert and ready to fight."
"only."
Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao quickly went to convey the order.
Soon, short and urgent orders and sharp police whistles spread throughout the camp. There were everywhere the clatter of armored leaves, anxious and angry urging, and uniform shouts. In an instant, Guan Yu's camp seemed to wake up.
generally.
The city of Yiyang in the Han Dynasty was not actually located in the urban area of Yiyang City in later generations, but at the bifurcation of two Zishui rivers. Its approximate location was the Qianjiazhou Township area in Heshan District, Yiyang City in later generations.
The lower reaches of Zishui have been separated since ancient times. One goes north and connects to Yuanshui, and the other goes east and flows into Dongting Lake.
The branch going north is called Ganxi. Because it flows from south to north, it forms a port called Ganxi Port. It is about ten kilometers away from the urban area of Yiyang City in later generations, probably in the Ziyang District of Yiyang City in later generations.
Lanxi is the upper reaches of Zishui, which is a branch of Zishui in the urban area of Heshan District, Yiyang City in later generations. It carved out a huge piece of land around the Yiyang City of the Han Dynasty, forming the Qianjiazhou Township.
In this way, the geographical environment is that Zishui lies to the north of Yiyang City, a large piece of plain land lies to the northeast, and Lanxi lies to the southeast.
The defenders of Yiyang City, Cai Mao's Army, and Guan Yu's Army were stationed in these three places respectively, forming a tripod.
At this moment, Cai Mao raised his troops from the plain land in the northeast. If he wanted to attack Yiyang City, he would have to build a large number of trench bridges.
Because Yiyang City is bounded by Zishui to the north and west, a moat was dug to surround the city. Therefore, tools such as moat bridges were necessary to cross the river.
However, Guan Yuguan and the others did not carry a large number of siege equipment at all, which is enough to show that the enemy's target was Guan Yu's military camp south of Lanxi.
It seemed that Zhuge Liang was right, Cai Hao really regarded him as a soft persimmon. Although the number of people in their camp was greater than the soldiers and horses in Yiyang City, Cai Hao still felt that they were the easiest to attack.
Therefore, Guan Yu was also determined to teach Cai Hao a lesson so that he would never come back, so he immediately issued an order to start rectifying his army and horses to guard against the enemy.
The sound of gongs and drums in the camp was loud, and groups of soldiers emerged from behind the cloud platforms on the wooden fence.
Because they were newly established camps, including those of Cai Mao and Guan Yu, they actually only had wooden fences instead of earthen walls. However, even wooden fences had good defensive capabilities and could bring great advantages to the defenders.
Cai Mao's army in the distance went all the way south and passed the city of Yiyang without stopping. It went all the way to the southeast and followed Lanxi River for several miles. At the narrow part of the river downstream slightly far away from Guan Yu's camp, there were hundreds of flying boats, scouts, yachts, etc.
The boat is already waiting here.
The upper and lower reaches of Lanxi are connected to Zishui, so Cai Mao's fleet can enter Zishui from Ganxi, then enter the lower reaches of Lanxi from Zishui and go upstream, lead the soldiers across the river at the lower reaches of Lanxi, and attack Guan Yu's camp from the east.
The only pity is that Yiyang City and Guan Yu's camp are some distance away from the river, so he can't drive the tower boat over and shoot arrows directly at the camp and tower from the tower boat.
After noon, Cai Mao's army appeared in the wilderness less than two miles away from Guan Yu's camp.
Because the south coast of Lanxi River was covered with forests and swamps and lakes, they could not see the situation to the east of the camp, but the scouts had already dispersed.
Soon someone reported back to Guan Yu: "Report, General, the enemy has crossed the river to the east gate of the camp."
"Let's go and have a look with me."
Guan Yu picked up the Qinglong Yanyue Sword. In addition to his lieutenants such as Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao, there were also generals such as Guan Ping, Liao Hua, Deng Fang, and Fukuang. Among them, Guan Ping was the eldest son of Guan Yu, and Liao Hua, Deng Fang, Fukuang and others were Liu Bei's subordinates.
Earned when recruiting soldiers in Nanyang.
Liu Bei brought more of his team to Xichuan. In addition to the old team such as Zhang Fei, Zhao Yuntai, Ci Mi, Zhu Mi Fang, there were also Yizhou surrendered generals such as Wu Yi, Fei Guan, Zhang Yi, Deng Xian, and Wu Lan, as well as Wei Yan, Dong
Jue, Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Gao Xiang, Kou Feng and other generals recruited in Jingzhou.
At this moment, all the soldiers followed Guan Yu all the way to the east gate of the camp. Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao were not only Guan Yu's lieutenants, but also die-hard confidants. Seeing the enemy troops approaching slowly from a distance, they were very puzzled and said: "Since they have ships,
Why not come directly from Zishui? If we go just outside Yiyang City, aren't we afraid of being attacked by the people in the city?"
"I think they are eager to send troops out of the city."
Guan Yu smiled.
Zhou Cang was puzzled: "Why is this?"
Guan Yu said: "Cai Mao has many soldiers and few soldiers in the city. How can he not set up an ambush?"
"I see."
Zhou Cang nodded.
In fact, there are more than 6,000 people in Yiyang City now, and there are about 8,000 Hanhu soldiers.
But you can't send these surrendered soldiers to the battlefield immediately in a short period of time. What if they suddenly rebel again?
The purpose of attacking the enemy's morale is to break the enemy's fighting spirit and make them stop resisting and surrender early. If they are allowed to go to the battlefield to fight against their former comrades, the morale of the army may be even more unstable.
Therefore, the eight thousand reduced soldiers are just reduced soldiers.
Unlike Wu Yi's 20,000 Yizhou soldiers, they were an army that could be transformed into combat effectiveness.
In fact, Wu Yi's 20,000 Yizhou soldiers cannot be said to be Yizhou troops, but should be said to be Jingzhou soldiers.
Liu Yan was from Jingling, Jiangxia, Jingzhou. When he was appointed as the shepherd of Yizhou, due to civil strife in Yizhou, he stayed in Jiangxia to recruit troops, named Dongzhou soldiers.
Therefore, Dongzhou soldiers were originally from Jingzhou, and there were also some refugees from Guanzhong, gentry from Nanyang and Jingzhou who followed Liu Yan.
Although most of their family members are in Bajun, they still have a sense of belonging to Jingzhou.
This resulted in Liu Bei being able to use them after a period of education after capturing them.
Later, Liu Bei also wrote to Liu Zhang to make peace, so that Liu Zhang would not kill their family members, and letters from home would often be sent to reassure the soldiers.
Moreover, the situation has changed greatly in the past two years. Zhang Lu deceived the emperor, and Liu Bei also said that he would go to Sichuan to help Liu Zhang deal with Zhang Lu, so these Yizhou soldiers were barely available.
Now is the civil war in Jingzhou, and the eight thousand soldiers from Han Hu do not have such military morale to help Liu Pan fight the war.
Therefore, if Huang Zhong really went out to fight in the city, he would be playing into Cai Mao's hands.
However, this strategy was too obvious. Not to mention Guan Yu, Huang Zhong did not fall into the trap. They just watched Cai Mao's army swaggering across the city.
When Cai Hao arrived outside the east gate of Guan Yu's camp, he quickly began to arrange his troops and prepare to attack.
Guan Yu's army saw a dense crowd outside the camp, and dozens of phalanxes quickly appeared. The 20,000 troops could not see the border at a glance. In the forest, hills, and wilderness outside the camp were Cai Hao's Jingzhou soldiers.
While Cai Hao was arranging his troops and horses, laying out their formations, he also sent a large number of scouts to inspect the surroundings of the camp. These were all relatively routine military operations.
At three quarters of the day, all Jingzhou soldiers were in formation, and with the sound of war drums and thunder, the war suddenly started without any prelude or pre-battle conversation between the two sides.
The dozen or so square formations in the front row of the Jingzhou soldiers suddenly began to press forward, surging forward like countless black clouds.
Shields were raised high, and wooden ladders were raised above the head. The soldiers outside the camp were like black ants. Then they got closer and closer, and the field of vision became overwhelming. If the soil outside the city was not moist, I am afraid that it would have been a long time ago.
Just rolling yellow sand.
The soldiers roared, were silent, screamed, and went crazy like a surging flood. In the cold wind between heaven and earth, they roared and charged towards Guan Yu's camp.