Chapter 361 Floods flooded Jingxiang and soldiers entered Fancheng
Cao Cao in Guanzhong quickly mobilized troops and horses to assist Nanyang. After the meeting, Sima Yi immediately returned to his residence and wrote a letter to Cao Pi privately, informing Cao Pi that he recommended Cao Zhi to go to war.
So a few days later, the envoy who delivered Cao Cao's order traveled all the way to Yecheng, met Cao Zhi who was drunk by Cao Pi at the time, and then returned to Chang'an to report to Cao Cao.
After hearing this, Cao Cao was furious and wrote a letter to scold Cao Zhi. He never reused Cao Zhi again and completely gave up on him as his successor.
But now is a critical moment, and Nanyang is in urgent need of reinforcements. Cao Zhi is unable to use him, and there is no candidate for the general to rush to Nanyang.
In desperation, Cao Cao could only temporarily let Zhang Liao go back to Yecheng, replace Cao Zhi, and lead his troops south to rush for reinforcements.
As a result, this back and forth was really a waste of time. By the time Zhang Liao arrived, the war in Nanyang had long been over.
But these are all things for later.
By September 11th, Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang had already gone south to Fancheng to help.
The heavy rain started at the end of August and has been falling for more than ten days now. The waves on the vast Han River are rolling and the rain is pouring down, as if it never stopped.
A few days ago, Xiangyang was only flooded to a depth of two or three feet, but now the water surface is as high as four or five feet. When the boat was sailed outside Xiangyang City, it was even possible to shoot arrows into the city from a high position. This shows the height of the Han River at this time.
Shen Chen's army occupied a large number of higher hillsides outside the city. Even if they were well prepared, many of their forts were submerged. If they had not had ships, they would have been greatly affected.
The Jingzhou army fiercely attacked Xiangfan, and Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin resisted desperately. The two sides surrounded the city and fired with crossbows. Cao's army suffered heavy casualties in the wind and rain, and the morale of the army fell to the bottom.
Fortunately, there are not many times when the water is several feet deep like this. The Han River continues to discharge floods. Xiangyang's flood discharge capacity has been greatly developed during Liu Biao's period. Although the city is flooded, the water level always goes down quickly and the entire city is not flooded.
The city is gone.
But Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang suffered a disaster when they just arrived in Fancheng. At that time, they rushed from the direction of Wuguan and traveled more than 200 kilometers in four days, averaging 50 kilometers per day. By the time they arrived in Fancheng, the Han River had already surged.
This time is completely different from the historical Battle of Xiangfan. In history, Guan Yu went north in July and surrounded Xiangfan, and then in August Yu Jin and Pang De were ordered to come to the rescue and stationed outside the city.
By the end of August, the heavy rain started. Guan Yu's army had boats, so they all hid on the boats. As a result, Yu Jin and Pang De didn't have boats, and their tents were flooded. They had no choice but to run to a nearby hillside to hide from the flood. Guan Yu forced them to
Surrender to the ban and kill Pang De. This is how the Seventh Army was flooded.
Cao Ren in Fancheng and Lu Chang in Xiangyang could not help them and could only watch them being destroyed. It was not until the end of September that Xu Huang's army came to help and stationed at Yanglingpo, and then a stalemate was formed with Guan Yu.
Then the two sides continued to fight until November. When Sun Quan made a sneak attack on Jingzhou, Guan Yu was forced to evacuate back. After that, within just one month, Yunchang defeated Maicheng and the war was completely over.
It's different now.
Because Shen Chen only went north at the end of August, the rainy season had already begun, so when Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang came to help, Xiangfan had already been flooded, and they could only station themselves in Yancheng, north of Fancheng, to wait and see the situation.
This made Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang unable to rush to Xiangfan's aid because they were separated by the flood. They became outsiders. They could only temporarily collect rain gear and mobilize ships.
While they were unable to get through, Shen Chen began to concentrate his main forces to deal with Yu Jin in Fancheng.
On September 12, the heavy rain continued.
Dengsai is located in the southeast of Deng County and northeast of Fancheng. It is a high slope close to the Han River.
At this moment, on the high slope, Shen Chen raised his eyes and looked at the blurry Fancheng in the distance.
The heavy rain continues today. After more than ten days of heavy rain, the Han River has flooded to both sides. Xiangyang, Fancheng and even Dengcheng have become a swamp.
Only Yancheng, more than 30 miles north of Fancheng, has not been flooded, but there are constant heavy rains and constant water flow.
Under the erosion of rain, a large amount of mud and rocks, mixed with a lot of grass and trees, flowed down the hillside of Dunsai, rolling down continuously, dyeing the color of the flood water below the hillside a muddy yellow.
The water flows gather into small streams and continuously pour into the waves below, but these are just small flows. More water sources come from the sky, from the upper reaches of the Han River, especially in mountainous areas such as Wudang and Fangling. Flash floods erupt into The disaster caused an unknown amount of land to be flooded.
Shen Chen stood in the rain wearing a raincoat, with Zhou Buyi holding a bamboo hat next to him. The raindrops pattered on the raincoat and bamboo hat, as if there was a terrible force coming down from the sky, and the hat and umbrella were full of rain. A sense of oppression.
Basically, all the troops surrounding Xiangyang have been transferred to Fancheng, totaling 70,000 people. Today, they will start to encircle and suppress the more than 30,000 forbidden troops in Fancheng.
Cao Jun deployed 100,000 troops in Nanyang, among which Xiahou Dun had more than 40,000 troops in Xiangyang, Yu Jin had more than 30,000 troops in Fancheng, and the other 20,000 to 30,000 troops were distributed in Wancheng, Xinye, Zhangling and other places in Nanyang.
Now because Shen Chen went north to besiege Xiangfan, and basically gathered in the outer area north of Fancheng, so including Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang, there were already 140,000 Cao troops in Xiangfan.
This does not include Zang Ba's and Zhang Liao's troops who are coming for reinforcements.
However, due to the favorable time, place and people, the flood helped Shen Chen's army divide the battlefield, allowing his 70,000 men to concentrate on attacking the weak points of Cao's army.
For example, today there are 70,000 soldiers fighting Fancheng and 30,000 Yu imperial troops.
Zhou Bujie raised his head and looked at the still thick clouds. The pouring rain seemed to have no end. He turned to Shen Chen and said: "Brother, the water level today is even higher than yesterday. Fortunately, we evacuated from Xiangfan, otherwise we would definitely To be submerged."
"Um."
Shen Chen tapped his chin lightly, stood with his hands behind his hands, and said in a deep voice: "It's not just us, there are hundreds of thousands of people in Xiangfan. When the people were evicted, they probably complained a lot."
"yes."
Zhou Buyi sighed: "If my senior brother hadn't forced us to move with his personal prestige, and the moving location is not that far away, it's just Canxiang more than a hundred miles away, I'm afraid the people wouldn't have agreed."
"How are they now?"
"They heard that Xiangfan was flooded, and knew that the senior brother had saved their lives. Their previous grievances had been wiped away. Every household was grateful to the senior brother. Many people were praying to Haotian, hoping that the senior brother could defeat Cao Jun as soon as possible. , I hope the flood will leave soon and they can return to their hometown."
"That's good."
Shen Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
The pressure on him to relocate the people this time was also very great.
First of all, in terms of the number of people, Xiangfan is the seat of Jingzhou, and there are more than 100,000 people in the surrounding area?
The mass migration of hundreds of thousands of people is not an easy task in itself.
Historically, when Liu Bei left Xinye, more than 100,000 people followed him. He walked ten miles a day and took more than a month to get from Xinye to Jiangling.
However, the place where Shen Chen resettled his people was not that far away. It was located in Canxiang, more than a hundred miles south of Xiangyang, which was the distance from Xiangfan City to Nanzhang County in later generations.
He gave Zhou Buji twenty days at that time, and he walked five miles in one day, so it wasn't that troublesome.
The second is the resentment of the people.
Although the migration distance is not far, no one wants to leave their hometown.
Therefore many people are unwilling to leave.
If it weren't for Shen Chen's personal prestige and Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence and righteousness accumulated in Jingzhou for many years, I'm afraid hundreds of thousands more people in Xiangfan would be drowned now.
Fortunately, time has proven that Shen Chen's choice was right. If he had not done so, then Xiangfan would not be able to hold it, the people would die, and in the end the entire strategy would completely fail, allowing Cao Cao and Sun Quan to succeed.
Zhou Bujie said to Shen Chen again: "Now the enemy's morale is low, our army's morale is strong, and the water continues to rise, which is extremely beneficial to our army."
"Um."
Shen Chen said: "The height of Fancheng is only three feet, but the water level has risen to five or six feet. Although it has not completely submerged the city, it has allowed our fleet to sail unimpeded."
The water level of the Han River has skyrocketed to a height of more than five to six feet, but the terrain of Fancheng is not level with the Han River. From the Fancheng wall to the ground, and then from the ground to the water level, there is still a height of seven to eight feet.
The same goes for Xiangyang. Just like the height of the Chang'an city wall is twelve meters, but the real height of the city wall is only eight meters. The remaining four meters include the depth of the moat outside the city. There is a certain height difference.
Although the Xiangyang City Moat is connected to the Han River, after the water level of the Han River surged, the distance from the city wall to the water level in Xiangyang was very close, but the city was not completely submerged.
Therefore, the current situation is that there is a vast ocean outside the city.
The moat originally used for defense was now filled, and the water level soared nearly two feet from the level of the ground. Except for the city walls and higher-lying areas within the city, all the rest of Xiangyang and Fancheng were flooded.
Fortunately, Shen Chen chose to abandon Xiangfan, otherwise Zhou Buyi, Wenpin and hundreds of thousands of people around Xiangfan City would have suffered.
The news spread to the army and Nanzhang where the people were resettled in the rear. The soldiers and people who did not understand why Shen Chen abandoned Xiangfan were all frightened and grateful. They were full of gratitude to Shen Chen. The Jingzhou War God's The name is also getting louder and louder.
Dengsai is a small hill, which has been transformed into a dock and dock. Battleships are parked on the Hanshui River to the east with Dengsai as their back. Tens of thousands of troops are distributed under the surrounding high slopes, and the ships stretch for more than ten miles.
Zhou Buyi looked at Fancheng in the distance. Under the impact of the flood, Fancheng was like a small boat, teetering on the edge, so he said: "Brother, maybe we can go to war."
"It's time."
Shen Chen turned his head and said to Deng Ai, Shan Yi, Wu Dang and other disciples behind him: "Send the order, let Huang Zhong, Wenpin, and Lu Chang lead the three armies to dispatch and surround the north gate, east gate, south gate of Fan City, and go up to the city wall. onslaught."
"only!"
When everyone received the order, they immediately went to convey the military order.
Shen Chen immediately said: "Mingli, you guard the camp. Xiahou Dun is trapped in Xiangyang and will definitely not be able to come to help. However, Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang will definitely be on the outside. Be careful of them sneaking up on Deng Sai."
"yes."
Zhou Buji nodded.
Shen Chen returned to the camp and ordered again to mobilize more than 20,000 troops from his headquarters to go west by boat.
Now he has four generals, Gan Ning is besieging Sun Quan in Shaxian, Zhang Xiu is attacking Sun Jiao in Yidao, and the rest Zhao Yun and Shamoke are attacking Yiling fiercely. Calculating the days, Yiling should have been captured and they are almost heading north.
Kou Feng Mengda and others also assisted Zhang Xiu, Zhao Yun and others. After Huang She was liberated, he assisted Gan Ning in attacking Zhouling. Sun Quan's army could hardly move and was in danger of being destroyed.
At this moment, his main elite force is marching straight towards Xiangfan. Although it is 70,000 against 140,000, the advantage lies with Cao's army. He has the right time, right place and good people. How can he be invincible?
Soon after mid-morning, the Jingzhou army spread across the hilly slopes along the east side of Fancheng began to move in full force.
In addition to the 15,000 men from his headquarters who were led by Zhou Buji, Huang Zhong took 20,000 men as the main force to attack the east gate of Fan City, and Wenpin and Lu Chang each led 10,000 men to attack the north and south gates.
Shen Chen personally led the ship past Fancheng and sailed to the northwest of Fancheng.
Thick clouds covered the entire sky, and wind and rain enveloped the surrounding areas. In the pouring rain, countless ships of the Jingzhou Army set sail one after another.
The first to take action was the Huang Zhong Department of the Chinese Army. He was stationed at Jiju south of Dengsai where Shen Chen was located. After Shen Chen's military order was conveyed, he immediately ordered the troops to prepare for the battle.
Huang Zhong's generals Chen Shi, Zhang Zhu, Zhang Yi, Zhuo Ying and others led their troops to board the ship. In an instant, hundreds of large and small ships set sail, with sails covering the sky and the sun.
The ships were equipped with ladders, bows and crossbows and other siege equipment, and took the lead in the direction of Fancheng.
In Fan City in the distance, Yu Jin is located on the east city tower. He looks at the rising river below with a sad face. The river has risen more than ten meters high, submerging the land of Fan City and raising the moat. Now it is only a few meters away from the parapet. More than a foot away.
This means that the land below is fully capable of driving large ships. People can walk on the water and the ships can travel in the sky. It is a rare river on the ground. The ships can even drive outside the city. Just jump from the ship and jump into the city from a high position.
Yu Jin knew that Shen Chen would not miss this opportunity, so he ordered all the soldiers in the city to stand on the city wall day and night. Even if the heavy rain continued for days, they could not return to the highland barracks in the city to rest.
The soldiers ate and slept on the city wall. Although they wore raincoats and rain gear for protection, they were all wet. Many people became sick because of this, and there were many complaints. The morale of the soldiers was at rock bottom, and it was almost difficult to boost morale.
At this time, Yu Jin's deputy general He Mao suddenly pointed to the waves and floods in the distance like the vast sea level and said: "General, there are dark shadows of ships over there."
"ah?"
Yu Jin quickly raised his head to look, and saw countless figures appearing in black shadows in the rolling flood.
This scene was like the sound of death's trumpet, causing the hearts of all the Cao soldiers on the walls of Fancheng to stop.
After a brief pause, Yu Jin shouted heartbreakingly: "The enemy is attacking, send the order, blow the trumpet, everyone go to the city wall."
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
The shrill sound of the trumpet resounded across the sky.
The entire Yu Imperial Army in Fan City seemed to have been awakened.
There was chaos in the city.
Some soldiers who had been holding on for several days finally rested, and the soldiers who were resting in the camp on the high ground in the city were forced to get up.
Small boats were used to carry supplies from the highlands, soldiers with crossbows carried the baggage to various city gates, and soldiers on the city walls carried things to the city.
Other soldiers clenched the spears in their hands, quickly got out of their respective resting places, and ran outside the female wall in the rain to wait seriously.
The officers and soldiers of Cao's army dragged their tired bodies and were still going about their business, just like swarms of ants in an ant nest, doing their assigned work.
"Quick, quick, quick!"
There are various rowing boats everywhere in the city, and next to them are the rooftops, which are now submerged in water.
Like a city on the water, there are few places for soldiers to rest.
However, since only a small amount of supplies can be stored in the towers on the city wall, once a war breaks out, they have to move the supplies to the city wall like ants.
Otherwise, once things like lime, crossbows, and swords are wetted by water, they will easily become damp, rust, and even volatilize.
The chaos was mixed with various sounds. Groups of soldiers emerged from the crenellations behind Fancheng's female wall. Soldiers took a boat to the bottom of the city wall and hurriedly ran up the stairs of the city wall that were half submerged in water.
They drew their bows and unsheathed their swords, and everywhere there was the sound of clattering armored leaves, anxious and angry urgings, uniform shouts, short and urgent orders and sharp whistles, and everything on the city wall became a mess.
In this extreme chaos, everyone's mood was extremely low. The rain was still falling from the sky, and many people on the city wall saw two more vast ships farther away.
The team appeared on the flooded river in the distance.
Three fleets attacked from the northwest, southeast and due east of Fancheng. The entire city faced a difficult test.
Judging from the data, a lot of subscriptions have been lost since Chapter 48 when fishing was more thorough. There are still many people who think that Jingzhou should not be taken risks, that Nanyang should not be given away, and that Jingzhou should not be used for fishing.
But I think from the overall strategic direction, just like Grandpa Desheng gave up on Shaanxi and Yan'an. Only when you give up can you gain. Fighting is not about playing house, and it does not mean that you can get anything without giving up anything. Some people say
They don't give up Nanyang, but they don't consider whether Nanyang can be defended even if Liu Bei's main force is in Jingzhou. Facing Cao Cao and Sun Quan's two-sided attack, unless I cheat and directly write off Jingzhou Heavy Rain, otherwise
The defense of Xiangfan would be flooded, and hundreds of thousands of people in Xiangfan would be affected.
Others say that I should not migrate the people, which is even more outrageous. If I don’t migrate, I will wait for them to drown.
There are quite a lot of accusations, and it’s not easy to write thoughtful articles. People still want mindless and cool articles, the kind that just kill people and win casually.
Personally, I have also considered this issue. Although the cool article is brainless, the results are good. So I have only one goal now, and that is to write a logical and cool article.
At least this one is an attempt. If I continue to write logical and enjoyable articles in the next one and the results are not good, then I may switch to mindless and enjoyable articles, which will be purely enjoyable without logic and be done with it.
Life is so hard, who can understand the hardships involved?