In August and September of the 24th year of Jian'an, in just half a month, the situation in Jingzhou was reversed instantly.
Huang Zhong's army went south, captured Jiangling in one day, and killed Lu Meng.
Shen Chen then divided the main force into two groups.
About 130,000 people along the way were to encircle and suppress Sun Jiao in Yiling Yidao, Cheng Pu in Zhouling, Sun Quan in Shaxian, and the remnants of the three tribes in Jiangdong.
Another group of more than 70,000 people marched north along the Mian River, surrounded Xiangfan, and attacked Cao Cao's army of 100,000 people.
The news quickly spread to the rear. Guo Jia in Xinye was shocked when he heard about it. He immediately sent letters to Cao Cao in Guanzhong and Cao Pi in Yecheng, asking for more reinforcements.
Not only Guo Jia, Xiahou Dun, but also Yu Jin's letters and official documents were sent to the north like raindrops every day, informing Cao Cao of the current situation.
At present, the two cities of Xiangfan are in danger under Shen Chen's fierce attack and are in danger of overturning, so I hope Cao Cao will come to help as soon as possible.
September 7th was the third day that Shen Chen surrounded Xiangfan.
Shen Chen arrived at Xiangfan on September 5th and began to disembark on September 6th to surround the two cities.
Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin's scouts ran at almost a dead horse's speed from Xiangfan to Xinye and Wuguan, then from Wuguan to Shangluo, and finally to Cao Cao's hands.
In Huxian County Government, Cao Cao faced off with Liu Bei in the Ganting area for more than a month. In terms of food and grass, Liu Bei came all the way, and he took advantage of it.
Although at first he wanted to defeat Liu Bei as soon as possible, and then quickly went south to cooperate with Sun Quan to destroy Shen Chen.
But Liu Bei also fought steadily and never gave him a chance to cut off the food route. Therefore, he could only act steadily first and did not choose to forcefully send troops. He just fought several fierce battles in the wild, with no outcome.
At this time, just after lunch, official documents from all over the country were already placed on his desk. What Cao Cao was most concerned about was that the official documents from Xiangyang were piled up on one side.
These messages were sent a few days ago.
The content inside is that Shen Chen abandoned Xiangfan ten days ago and the main force went south to Jiangling. Sun Quan asked Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin to send troops to help as soon as possible. Guo Jia dissuaded him and put forward the suggestion that Sun Quan and Liu Bei should fight against each other.
This suggestion was approved by Cao Cao. He thought Guo Jia was right. Although he also hated Shen Chen deeply, Guo Jia was right.
Killing Shen Chen will only allow the two weak men Liu Bei and Sun Quan to unite. Only by allowing Shen Chen to preserve his strength and return to Xichuan can the two of them fight for Jingzhou.
Therefore, he sent a letter from Wuguan to Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin, asking them to follow Guo Jia's plan.
This is the reason why Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin did not send troops for more than ten days from late August to early September.
Several clerks were processing official documents in the county government hall.
Cao Cao had just finished breakfast and walked into the hall. He asked if there were any official documents from Nanyang. He was told that there were currently no official documents from Nanyang, so he sat at his desk and read some official documents reported from other places.
At this time, Xu Chu suddenly hurried in from outside, knelt down on one knee and said: "King Wei, urgent report from Nanyang."
"oh?"
Cao Cao immediately put down the official document and said: "Send it up."
"only."
Xu Chu presented the official document with both hands.
After Cao Cao opened it, he only glanced at it twice before his face changed drastically and he shouted: "Have Sima Yi, Jiang Ji, Dong Zhao, and Huan Jie come over immediately."
"yes."
Xu Chu saw that his face was not good-looking and knew that something serious had happened. He hurriedly exited the hall and ordered the guards to summon four counselors who were currently following Cao Cao.
After receiving the news, the four of them did not dare to neglect their duties. They all put down their official duties and hurried into the government hall.
After everyone arrived, Dong Zhao went up and asked, "King Wei, what happened?"
Cao Cao looked very ugly and said: "I have underestimated Liu Bei. He doesn't know where the soldiers and horses came from. Shen Chen personally led tens of thousands of troops north to Xiangfan and surrounded two cities."
"How is this possible?"
Everyone was shocked.
Jiang Ji even said: "Sun Quan only took action in June. Liu Bei was still in Wudu at that time. It took at least a month for the news to spread. Even if he immediately mobilized troops from Hanzhong to go south, it would still take three or four months. Where is it so fast?"
"Could it be that they went from Fangling Shangyong? It's impossible. Fangling Shangyong is indeed close to Jingzhou, but the road is rugged and difficult. Even if we send troops from Hanzhong, it will take a long time to reach Shangyong."
Sima Yi thought deeply: "King Wei, can you figure out where the enemy's army came from and what the situation is like with Sun Quan?"
"I don't know yet."
Cao Cao shook his head: "Yu Jin's letter just said that it has been raining heavily in Xiangfan in the past few days. Shen Chen's fleet suddenly went up the river from the south of Mianshui River. He is not yet clear about the situation on Sun Quan's side."
Sima Yi thought: "Then we can only prepare for the worst. Liu Bei assembled a group of troops in a short period of time, suddenly went east along the river, and raided Yiling, Yidao and Sun Quan's army in Jiangling. However, it might just be a siege. , because Shen Chen has not used all his main force."
"Um."
Cao Cao pondered: "I think so too. If he has annihilated Sun Quan, it will not be just tens of thousands of people, but more than 100,000 troops. Now it is not a matter of figuring out where the enemy's army came from, but of solving the problem of Xiangfan It’s just a siege.”
"You can order Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang to rush to help immediately."
Dong Zhao said immediately.
Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang stationed 40,000 troops in Shangluo, which is located in the middle of Wuguan. They can rush to help Chang'an from the north and Nanyang from the south. Placing them here is a contribution to the reinforcements from both sides.
Cao Cao looked worried and said: "The beast in Shen Chen is extremely ferocious. If Xiahou Yuan is only allowed to sway slowly, he may not be able to win. We will have to send people from Yecheng to do it."
"Then who can lead the troops?"
Huan Jie asked.
Cao Cao was immediately stopped by the question and frowned.
The current situation in Jingzhou is not known, but through Shen Chen they only led tens of thousands of people to the north to besiege Xiangfan instead of using all their main forces. It is judged that Sun Quan is still alive and the Jiangdong Army should have been besieged rather than destroyed, so there is still hope for the war in the south.
The problem is that Cao Cao knew that Shen Chen's troops were powerful and Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang's mere 40,000 men might not be able to solve the siege of Xiangfan, but if he wanted to continue to reinforce Nanyang, he had to have experienced generals.
However, Cao Cao, now fighting on two fronts, was faced with the dilemma of having no generals to send.
Because they are brave and resourceful and can fight tough battles, there are only a few commander-level generals who can barely compete with Shen Chen.
Cao Ren died early, Cao Hong was beheaded, Xiahou Dun was in Xiangfan, and Xiahou Yuan was the reinforcement. The clan members Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, and Xiahou Shang were relatively junior.
The first member outside the clan, General Yu Jin, was also in Xiangfan. Xu Huang followed Xia Houyuan, Zhang Liao and Xue Ti to besiege another part of the Jiangxia Navy Su Fei and Chen Sheng's troops in Hefei on the eastern front.
The rest Le Jin was killed, Li Dian, Shi Huan, Han Hao and others died of illness. Zang Ba and Zhang He were qualified, but they were always third-line generals. They either followed the general or guarded the place, so it was difficult for them to lead troops alone, not to mention that they could not He must not be Shen Chen's opponent.
After thinking for a long time, Cao Cao even went to the hospital because of his illness. He said whimsically: "Zijian is very talented. What do you think if we let him lead the army?"
"Forehead"
Everyone looked at each other and said nothing.
Only Sima Yi raised his hand and said, "Your Highness is young and promising, so maybe it can be done."
"Um."
Cao Cao stroked his beard, tapped his chin and said: "Then let Cao Zhi serve as Nanzhonglang general, march against the captive generals, and lead troops to rescue Xiangfan. Then let Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang go south to Fancheng to relieve the siege."
"yes."
Everyone responded.
"Report!"
At this time, another official document arrived.
This time it is a letter from Xiahou Dun.
Because Xiahou Dun was in Xiangyang, the messenger had to cross the river, but it was a step slower than Yu Jin's official document.
The content of the letter was similar to that of Yu Jin. It was raining heavily in Xiangfan. Shen Chen's army went north and surrounded Xiangfan. He hoped that Cao Cao could send reinforcements as soon as possible.
After Cao Cao gave the instructions, a while later, Guo Jia's letter also arrived.
Afterwards, the battle reports came one after another. By night, more than ten battle reports were sent to Cao Cao's desk.
After Cao Cao read these letters one by one, he immediately responded.
A letter of orders was sent from Cao Cao's government office and transferred to Nanyang, Yecheng, Chendu and other places to convey his orders to the garrisons in various places.
In this battle, he sent a total of three lines of reinforcements.
One group was led by Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang, who supervised eight divisions, each with 5,000 men, and commanded the generals Yin Shu, Zhu Gai, Zhang Shun, etc., totaling 40,000 people from Shangluo to Nanyang.
On the second day, Cao Zhi planned to lead the route from Yecheng to the south.
The last group, led by Zang Ba, joined Zhang Liao's troops on the eastern front from Xuzhou and headed for Nanyang.
It wasn't until all arrangements and orders were issued that Cao Cao finally had time to discuss and analyze the situation with his group of advisers.
Guo Jia said in the letter that although he did not know what happened on Sun Quan's side, judging from the number of enemy troops, the Jiangdong army should not have been destroyed.
This view coincides with the group of advisers around Cao Cao.
Because now the Cao Wei Group does not know what happened in Nanjun, and the only information they have is one--that is, Shen Chen suddenly led tens of thousands of troops and surrounded Xiangfan.
As for how he broke through Sun Quan's tight siege and where the large number of ships suddenly appeared in Xiangfan, no one knows.
Among the known information, more than half a month ago, Shen Chen was alone with tens of thousands of troops, surrounded by Sun Quan and Cao Cao. Among them, the total number of Jingzhou troops was about 120,000, and Huang She's 50,000 troops only had 30,000 left in Xia. Mouth, 20,000 are in Wancheng.
Shen Chen's army numbered 70,000, with the main force of more than 30,000 in Jiangling. Wenpin Zhou Buyi's 15,000 had just given way to Xiangfan and retreated to the south. Zhao Yun and Samoko's 20,000 troops attacked Yiling in Zhijiang.
Cao's army of 100,000 men was distributed in Xiangfan, Xinye and other places.
Sun Jiao's tribe of Sun Quan's army has more than 40,000 people distributed in Yiling and Yidao. Lü Meng's tribe has about 60,000 people in Jiangling. Sun Quan's headquarters has about 50,000 people in Zhouling and Shaxian. At the same time, there are 10,000 to 20,000 defenders in the Xiling area of Jiangxia. .
In other words, in the frontal battlefield of Nanjun, Shen Chen's army had less than 100,000 troops, and against Cao and Sun's coalition forces of 270,000 troops, it could be said that we were truly outnumbered, one against three.
Logically speaking, in such a headwind situation, it is impossible for Shen Chen to make a comeback because he is surrounded by east, west, north, and south.
But now that this situation has occurred, other situations will naturally occur.
Therefore, based on various considerations and Guo Jia's guess, everyone believed that Liu Bei had prepared a naval force in Yizhou and arrived at the critical moment. He cooperated with Shen Chen to surround Sun Quan's army, and then went north to destroy Cao's army in Xiangfan.
Cao Cao also agreed with everyone's inference. At the end of the sentence, he looked around and sighed: "It's unpredictable for me to sell my shoes. I actually ambushed a navy army early and caught Sun Quan by surprise. I had to suspect that Sun Quan was planning to attack Jingzhou." He already knew about the matter."
"No matter what happens, the top priority now is to rescue Xiangfan."
Jiang Ji thought deeply: "It would be better if we could help Sun Quan get rid of the predicament he was under siege. Why doesn't King Wei allocate troops to Henan, let Pei Qian, the governor of Yanzhou, recruit new soldiers, and then let Xue Ti and Wen Hui of Huainan come from Lujiang Go south and go to Xiakou to relieve the siege?"
"Recruiting new recruits?"
Cao Cao pointed to the official documents stacked on the other side and said with a wry smile: "You don't know, the rebellion in the rear has not stopped. Over the years, the front line has been at war with Liu Bei, the corvee has been serious, and the people have suffered terribly. From last year to this year alone, there have been no fewer than two rebellions in various places. If we recruit new soldiers ten times, the whole of Henan will rebel."
Historically, Cao Cao's rear has always been unstable. There have been several recorded incidents this year. For example, Geng Ji, Wei Huang, Wei Xi and others rebelled. Sun Lang, Hou Yin and others rebelled. Especially after the Seventh Army was flooded, Liang, Jia and others rebelled. , Lu Hun's group of thieves received Yu's seal from afar and formed a party for them, making Yu powerful in China.
The main reason is that Cao Cao has been fighting in those years, attacking Guanzhong, defeating Ma Chao, pacifying Han Sui, conquering Zhang Lu, and then the Battle of Hanzhong broke out. He transported grain from Guandong and other places to Guanzhong, and mobilized a large number of civilians. The labor was arduous and the people The people are in dire straits.
Not only Cao Cao, but also Liu Bei had a hard time fighting the Hanzhong battle. The logistics pressure of transporting grain from Shu and Ba to Hanzhong was huge, and a large number of civilians were recruited, which resulted in continuous corvee work and delayed farming, making the people of Bashu miserable.
For this reason, he made an extremely important strategic mistake at that time, that is, after repelling Cao Cao, he immediately withdrew his troops back to Shu County to appease the people and reduce corvee labor to deal with internal affairs.
As a result, after Liu Bei left Hanzhong, Cao Cao's pressure was greatly reduced, so he began to deal with Guan Yu wholeheartedly, sending all kinds of troops to help Cao Ren, and finally defeated Guan Yu, solved the siege of Xiangfan, and indirectly helped Sun Quan gain Jingzhou.
The same is the case now.
Cao Cao's expedition to Guanzhong required a long journey, which put great pressure on logistics and forced the people to do heavy labor, which led to continuous rebellions in the rear.
Although Liu Bei's situation was similar. The two sides fought the Battle of Wudu for more than half a year. Liu Bei also faced logistical supply difficulties. Shu County and Ba County deployed a large number of civilians, making it difficult to survive in the capital of Guizhou.
But Liu Bei did one thing better than Cao Cao, that is, he suppressed wealthy families, liberated a large number of people, and promoted Champa rice, greatly increasing productivity.
Through these measures, Liu Bei was barely able to sustain himself, and now he traveled a long distance to attack Guanzhong, but he was not on the verge of collapse.
Therefore, Cao Cao and Liu Bei are actually tightening their bows and beginning to gnash their teeth to compete for national power.
If Cao Cao now recruits civilians and recruits new soldiers, it will be like the straw that breaks the camel's back. It is likely to trigger a large-scale rebellion in Henan, and then Nanyang Cao's army will be completely unable to rescue him.
Therefore, unless the country is about to be destroyed, the foundation of the country must not be shaken.
At the end of the conversation, Cao Cao stood up from the table, walked slowly to the entrance of the hall, covered his increasingly painful forehead, sighed and said, "I hope Yuan Rang and the others will be safe and sound."
Boom.
I don’t know when.
It also started to rain lightly in Guanzhong.
This fight between Liu Bei and Cao Cao.
Although I am not in Jingzhou, Jingzhou has become a key place for their survival!
Some people still say that taking half of Jingzhou just to lure Sun Quan to attack is losing the watermelon and picking up the sesame seeds. I can only say that this battle involves the national destiny of three countries. Using half of Jingzhou to bet on the fate of the other two countries
Why don't you bet on the fate of the country? Why don't you bet if you're crazy? You're crazy and you're still talking about it. It's really irritating.