In August of the 20th year of Jian'an, Sun Quan officially attacked Hefei.

The situation in the world at this time is completely different from that in history.

Historically, Cao Cao conquered Guanzhong, defeated Han Sui and Ma Chao, and conquered Zhang Lu in the south.

Zhang Lu surrendered, Cao Cao captured Hanzhong and threatened Bashu.

At that time, Liu Bei had just captured Shuzhong, and his rule was far from stable.

Therefore, in order to put pressure on Cao Cao's eastern front, he negotiated with Sun Quan to return part of Jingzhou territory to Sun Quan in exchange for Sun Quan sending troops.

At that time, the two parties agreed that the west of the Xiangjiang River would belong to Guan Yu, and the east of the Xiangjiang River would belong to Sun Quan. The two would rule by dividing the river.

Sun Quan has benefited, and Cao Cao's Huainan is indeed empty. One hundred thousand versus seven thousand, the advantage is mine, so why not send troops?

So he chose to send out a mighty army and attacked outside Hefei City, making Zhang Liao famous throughout the ages.

But today is very different.

Liu Bei holds a complete Jing Yi and dares to send troops to Guanzhong to curb Cao Cao's development momentum.

At this time, Han Sui and Ma Chao had the intention of separatist rule and were afraid that Liu Bei would come to seize their territory, so they chose to face Cao Cao alone.

As a result, the two were defeated and fled to Xiliang to survive. They were forced to form an alliance with Liu Bei and led Liu Bei's army into Guanzhong to confront Cao's army.

Although Liu Bei mobilized some Jingzhou troops and horses to Xichuan, he only took away about 30,000 troops.

Among them, Liu Pan's army went north to Jiangling, and some county troops from each of the five counties in Jingnan were left to defend. 50,000 Jiangxia naval troops and more than 10,000 Zhao Yun troops still guarded Jiangxia Xiling.

In the Shen Dynasty, the 80,000 Nanyang Army was led by Wenpin, Lu Chang and others. About 50,000 troops were stationed in Yecheng and Wancheng areas, and faced off with Cao Cao's 100,000 troops in Yingchuan and Runan areas.

More than 10,000 county soldiers were dispersed in Zhanglingnan County and other places, while Shen Chen himself led 20,000 troops to attack the Wuguan Pass.

Because the soldiers and horses Liu Bei took away were the original soldiers and horses of Nanjun, Liu Pan had to guard the Jiangling area to make up for the lack of defense power in Nanjun.

Since then, Jingzhou's 200,000-strong army has only been mobilized from Jingnan. The main forces of Nanyang County and Jiangxia navy are still there.

It was just that the main force in Jingzhou was less mobilized, and there were not many soldiers and horses in Yizhou. In addition, the journey from Bashu to Hanzhong into Guanzhong was long and difficult, and the people pulled horses to transport the troops. The time was slow, the consumption was high, and the logistics pressure was great.

This led to the fact that in the direction of Guanzhong, Liu Bei could only mobilize the 50,000 soldiers and horses in Hanzhong, which was far from Cao Cao's opponent.

Sun Quan had also learned the news and knew that Liu Bei had only sent 50,000 Guan Yu troops out of Baoxie Valley to station in Wuzhangyuan, but they were suppressed and beaten by Cao Jun.

Then why didn't Liu Bei send more troops there?

It’s not that you are afraid of yourself.

Therefore, Sun Quan knew that if he did not send troops, Liu Bei would most likely choose to maintain the status quo and sit back and watch Han Sui and Ma Chao be defeated, and Cao Cao obtain Xiliang in Guanzhong.

After all, Jingzhou is his foundation. If Sun Quan makes a sneak attack from behind while his main force is dispatched, that would not be good.

So in this half-coercion and half-submission, Sun Quan was forced to choose to attack Huainan to win Liu Bei's trust.

This is his last chance.

So Huainan is so huge, where do we need to attack to take the entire Huainan as our own?

Hefei became the only choice.

Although Huainan is a vast plain area, you can also travel by land.

However, Jiangdong is stronger than the naval army and the infantry and cavalry are weak, so it is not wise to fight Cao's army on the plains.

Beyond that, there are logistical considerations.

At that time, Cao Cao's approach in Huainan was to strengthen the walls and clear the country, moving all the people north of the Yangtze River and south of the Huaihe River, creating an uninhabited land of more than 100,000 square kilometers.

If Sun Quan chooses to take the land route, bypass Hefei, and attack the hinterland of Cao Cao in Henan, the long supply line, coupled with the harassment of the Hefei defenders in the rear, will prevent him from plundering the people to replenish supplies, and he will be in a very difficult battle.

If Cao Jun were to attack him head-on in Henan at that time, the winning rate would definitely be low.

So he only has one path to choose.

That is to enter Chaohu Lake via Ruxushui, capture Hefei and then enter the Huaihe River Basin via Shishui, Fertilizer and Shouchun.

Taking the waterway in this way not only greatly reduces the cost of transporting grain and grass, but also greatly improves mobility because ship transportation can be carried day and night, which is much better than taking the land route.

The only problem is that Hefei is stuck on the road of this transportation line, just like the pass in the Qinling Mountains, which cannot be opened by one man.

But no matter how difficult the pass is, Sun Quan still has to bite the bullet.

What's more, now Sun Quan must press forward with his troops to make Liu Bei think that he has no more troops to attack Jingzhou, so he has to make a big show of it, with a hundred thousand troops, surrounding Hefei three levels inside and three outside.

So under this situation, Sun Quan sent troops.

On August 3, Sun Quan personally led his army northward along the Ruxu Waterway. The fleet blocked the sky and the sun, crowding the wide waterway. The front army, middle army and rear army stretched for dozens of miles, and the sails covered the sky and the sun. They were known as one hundred thousand men.

, crossed Chaohu and went straight to Hefei.

The weather was gloomy that day. Hefei City was located on the northwest bank of Chao Lake, stuck at Shikou, the mouth of the river where Chao Lake flows into Shikou. The majestic city was tall, and Cao Jun in the city was patrolling the city defenses in an orderly manner.

As the front line of Huainan, Hefei's location is extremely important. Although Cao Cao did not deploy heavy troops here, he naturally had his considerations.

The first is logistics.

Cao Cao is also under great logistical pressure now.

On the Nanyang front line, Jingzhou's military god Shen Chen was eyeing him, and he had no choice but to deploy heavy troops.

When there are more soldiers and horses, the people eat the horses' chews, and consume tens of thousands of stones of grain and grass every day. It costs too much to transport grain and grass from the rear.

Therefore, local people need to farm and provide food and grass supplies for the army.

Moreover, Cao Cao could not relocate the people of Runan, Yingchuan. First, he had a close relationship with the Yingchuan family and could not move the basic base of the Yingchuan family.

Second, he had nowhere to go after he moved. Since he compromised with the Yanzhou family, the Yanzhou family has been on guard against the Yingchuan family and has not allowed the Yingchuan faction to enter Yanzhou.

Therefore, the current situation can only be maintained, and a large amount of manpower and material resources are spent every day to resist Shen Chen. Even most of the soldiers and horses here have to farm, half farming and half guarding the border, in preparation for the south.

After the people of Huainan moved to Henan, more than 100,000 square kilometers of Huainan have become desolate wilderness. If too many soldiers and horses are deployed on the front line of Huainan, large quantities of grain and grass will be transported from the rear every day, and the long journey will be huge.

Therefore, we only placed 7,000 people in Hefei and put enough food and grass in the city.

As long as these 7,000 people can hold off the enemy for a month or two, the army from Chendu in Yecheng can come to help at any time, thus saving a lot of manpower and material resources.

Secondly, Cao Cao really did not have any extra troops.

Youzhou in the north must be guarded, the base camp of Yecheng, the emperor's residence in Chendu, and the front lines of the confrontation between Henan and Nanyang must be heavily defended.

Therefore, when he took the main force to Kou Lue Pass, he had no other troops.

But overall, Cao Cao's arrangement is still very powerful.

He calculated that Sun Quan could only attack Hefei, so he sent Zhang Liao and Li Dian to garrison in Hefei. As long as Zhang Liao and Li Dian could hold on for one month, enough reinforcements would arrive from the rear.

Naturally, Sun Quan also knew this, so he also planned to seize Hefei immediately with his troops and troops.

In this way, Cao Cao had nothing to do in Guanzhong, so he could gain Liu Bei's trust while calmly writing a letter to Cao Cao to negotiate peace, fawning over both parties, and preparing for a surprise attack on Jingzhou in the future.

At this time, the autumn wind was bleak, and Chao Lake was rolling up clear waves. Cao Jun, who was stationed on the lakeshore, had already noticed the mighty ships on the lake and hurried back to warn them.

In the city of Hefei, the bandit general Zhang Liao, the bandit general Li Dian and the guard Xue Ti led 7,000 people to guard the city. When they learned that Sun Quan's army had arrived, Zhang Liao, Li Dian, Xue Ti and others quickly held a meeting to discuss.

Zhang Liao and Li Dian have always been at odds with each other. They are actually on the same level. Neither can do anything to the other, nor do they obey each other's orders.

Therefore, in order to prevent the two men from delaying the military plane due to internal fighting, Cao Cao specially left his guard Xue Ti to mediate. Before leaving, he also left a letter to him, asking him to open it when Sun Quan attacked.

After Xue Ti arrived at the government office, he sat on the main seat and waited for Zhang Liao and Li Dian to come over.

Even though Zhang Liao and Li Dian were both generals, Xue Ti's full official title was called the Governor of the Central Protectorate. In the 12th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao appointed the Governor of the Central Protectorate to be the commander-in-chief of all generals.

For example, the guard Zhao Yan once commanded seven armies including Tao Jin, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Li Dian, Lu Zhao and Feng Kai.

Later, Cao Zhen, Sima Shi and others all held this position.

After Cao Wei's ninth rank Zhongzheng, this official was ranked fourth rank, while Zhang Liao and Li Dian's general rank was fifth rank.

In history, including when Cao Cao went to conquer Zhang Lu, he also gave the secret message to Xue Ti instead of Zhang Liao, Li Dian, and Le Jin.

Therefore, although Xue Ti is not as famous as Zhang and Li Le in history, he is actually the boss of the three of them and is currently guarding the city of Hefei as the commander-in-chief of all armies.

After a while, Zhang Liao and Li Dian came in, raised their hands and said, "Guard the Army."

"Generals, please take a seat."

Xue Ti stretched out his hand and motioned for them to sit down.

"Thank you, Hujun."

The two didn't bother to look at each other, and each sat down to the left and right of Xue Ti.

Xue Ti looked around at the two men and said: "Two generals, the scouts from the front have just reported that Sun Quan has led the army to Shikou. They are about to board the ship and dock, and enter Hefei. They are expected to arrive at the city tomorrow."

Change the source app to view the latest chapters of this book on multiple sites at the same time.】

"oh?"

Li Dian said in a deep voice: "Then we should immediately send a letter to Shouchun to ask for help."

"No rush."

Xue Ti waved his hand, took out a letter from his arms, and said to the two of them: "Before the Prime Minister left Huainan, he left a letter long ago. He said that if Sun Quan came to attack, he would open it and read it, and invite you two to come over."

Zhang Liao and Li Dian approached Xue Ti's desk. Xue Ti opened the envelope and opened the letter, and saw Cao Cao's personal message on it.
To be continued...