Chapter 363 Post-war situation and the prelude to the Northern and Southern Dynasties
Chapter 363 The post-war situation and the beginning of the Northern and Southern Dynasties
Author: Playing with Basilisk
Chapter 363 The post-war situation and the beginning of the Northern and Southern Dynasties
In the evening, Fancheng was already occupied by Shen Chen's army.
At this time, the city was in a state of marsh. The heavy rain flooded the city, and the water in the city was more than ten feet deep.
The only places where people can stand are on the roofs and some higher slopes.
The material reserves of the Imperial Army are basically all there, and a large number of Cao's troops are also stranded in the city.
After the Jingzhou army entered the city, they used ships to transport all the prisoners to the rear camp.
It took a full day just to escort the prisoners.
And just when Shen Chen was captured alive in Fancheng, he was about to continue to take advantage of the heavy rain to besiege Xiangyang City.
The Battle of Yiling in Nanjun has also come to an end.
In fact, it is more appropriate to call it a heavy rain in Bashan than a heavy rain in Xiangfan.
Historical records indicate that heavy rain fell for more than ten days in the upper reaches of the Han River, causing flooding in the Xiangyang section of the Han River and inundating the Seventh Army.
Where is the upper reaches of Han River?
The approximate location is from Shiyan City in Hubei Province to Ankang City in Shaanxi Province.
To the south is Wudang Mountain and Shennongjia area.
A little further south is the Three Gorges.
Therefore, when there are heavy rains in the upper reaches of the Han River in Xiangfan, there are also constant heavy rains in the deep mountains of Bashan in the south.
The Yiling area is located in this area.
Although the rain here is not as exaggerated and terrifying as in Xiangfan, it is still not bad, causing flash floods and mudslides.
Logically speaking, such weather is not suitable for Zhao Yun and Samoko's army to attack.
Because heavy rain will lead to disadvantages in land battles, Guan Yu in history and Shen Chen in current times relied on naval forces to attack the enemy fiercely.
However, the morale of the Jiangdong soldiers stationed here has dropped to the bottom. Generals Ding Feng and Song Qian can hardly save the situation and can only support themselves hard, so even a land battle will not hinder them.
On September 6th, Zhao Yun's and Samoko's tribes broke through the camp, killed Song Qian, captured Ding Feng, and defeated the enemy.
After cleaning the battlefield and escorting the prisoners back to Zhijiang, the two followed the original plan and left 5,000 people in Zhijiang to guard the prisoners and serve as backup reinforcements for Zhang Xiu and Liao Hua's troops.
They immediately took the land route north to Xiangyang.
In addition to Zhao Yun and Samoko, there were also Mengda and Kou Feng tribes, with a total of more than 30,000 people from both sides. They passed Dangyang and went to Yicheng, arriving at Zhonglu south of Xiangyang on September 11th.
But at this time, like Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang, they were a land army and had no ships. There were continuous heavy rains and floods in the Xiangyang area, and they could not get through.
Especially in the Xianshan mountainous area to the north of Zhonglu County, flash floods broke out and the land was submerged, so they could only be stationed in Zhonglu City.
Two days later, the scouts sent by Zhao Yun and others to contact Shen Chen finally came back and informed Shen Chen that they had conquered Fancheng the day before yesterday and escorted all the prisoners to the slope where they were stationed yesterday.
As the scouts returned, Zhao Yun and the others also got a new mission, which was to escort the prisoners to Yicheng in the rear.
For this reason, Shen Chen spent another day sending the prisoners from the camp to Zhonglu by boat.
By September 15th, the heavy rain that had lasted for more than ten days finally stopped. Although the weather was still gloomy and the sun did not shine on the earth, at least it was no longer as heavy as it had been for the past half month.
However, after the rain, what was left on the earth was a mess.
In the lower reaches of the Han River, especially in Yunmengze areas such as Jiangxia, a large number of plains were flooded, causing heavy losses to the people.
Jiangxia is a land reclamation area designated by Shen Chen. Many villages used to be there, but now they are flooded, leaving the people displaced and in a difficult situation.
But there is nothing we can do about it.
Just like the Yangtze River floods in 1998, which affected as many as 223 million people, natural disasters are something that cannot be changed by human power. Shen Chen could only order an immediate order and send officials to Jiangxia, Nanjun and other banks of the Han River Yunmengze to carry out rescue work.
Fortunately, the situation has stabilized now. Sun Jiao was almost destroyed. Sun Quan and Cheng Pu were also besieged in Zhouling and Shaxian. The Jiangdong Army in Nanjun and Jiangxia were expelled, and all counties and counties were once again returned to Han territory.
Without the enemy's obstruction, the officials who had fled in Jingzhou returned to their respective posts and began to manage the disaster area.
Especially the originally designated Jiangxia Tuntian District, where many of the retired Jingzhou soldiers and family members of Mei Gan, Lei Xu, Chen Lan and other tribes were stationed, has now been quickly restored to order.
These people are composed of retired soldiers who have fought in the past. When Zhao Yun and Samoko withdrew to Nanjun, they left Lei Xu, Wenbu, Deng Kai and others behind to stay in Anlu and organize these soldiers to resist Jiangdong. military.
After the war started, under the command of Lei Xu, Wenbu, Deng Kai and others, a large number of people moved to the Anlu area, and many people took up arms and stationed in that area to fight the invading Jiangdong Army. Some of the casualties were not significant.
Only the Yangtze River and Han River, and many people on both sides of Yunmengze who had no time to escape were submerged in the water.
There is really no way.
It was impossible for Shen Chen to go to door-to-door notifications while fighting.
Just like no matter how warning the weather forecast is, the 223 million people on both sides of the Yangtze River will not be able to evacuate in future generations.
However, the natural disaster will eventually pass, and after the war stabilizes, the government will assume corresponding responsibilities and start disaster relief work.
The autumn wind in the late autumn of September blew across the earth, causing ripples in the already undulating floods. The tide was still raging, but it gradually receded, leaving behind a patch of sand where the floods had once been.
Rice fields were washed away, cities turned into mud, and even some hills and hills were lost in the long river of history due to massive soil erosion or being washed away by floods.
Soldiers from the Zhao Yun and Samoko tribes escorted the prisoners from Fancheng to Yicheng.
During this period, Shen Chen was not idle. He took advantage of the flood to fully recede and led the main force to attack Xiangyang. Every day, countless ships surrounded Xiangyang city, raining arrows on them, making Cao's army in the city almost unable to raise their heads.
It's just that Xiangyang is not that easy to fight.
As the saying goes, Fancheng is made of paper, and Xiangyang is made of iron. Fancheng is much smaller than Xiangyang, and the height of the city is also much shorter. The size of the city and the city are not on the same level.
Although Xiahou Dun was also submerged in the water, Xiangyang City was too high and the city was several times larger than Fan City, so it was not that easy to attack.
Historically, Guan Yu did not attack Xiangyang City, which had higher defenses, but instead stormed Fan City where Cao Ren was stationed.
This is because Fancheng, which has more defenders than Xiangyang, is easier to fight.
Shen Chen made several forceful attacks, but was blocked by Xiahou Dun. If he forcefully attacked, the soldiers would suffer heavy losses, so he decided to take his time and not rush.
Time passed gradually, and by late September, the flood finally receded.
Outside Xiangfan City, there is already a mess. Silt covers the once vast plains. A thick layer of moist soil accumulates in the fields and villages. When the tide recedes and the sediment dries up, it looks like it has turned into a sea of loess.
Many trees were uprooted, and many houses were washed away and turned into ruins. Even among the silted mounds, you could occasionally see some corpses, mostly soldiers wearing Cao Jun uniforms, who had turned into giants.
On September 18, Sun Jiao's army was finally defeated by Zhang Xiu's army. During the chaotic battle, Sun Jiao tried to break out, but was shot dead by the crossbowmen. There were more than 20,000 remaining soldiers, and less than 10,000 surrendered to Zhang Xiu.
After Sun Jiao was dealt with, all the prisoners were also imprisoned in Dangyang.
Now Dangyang and Yicheng have become local bases for Shen Chen's army to place prisoners in the rear. There are more than ten named generals under Sun Quan's army and Cao Cao's army alone, and the number of people who surrendered is eighty or ninety thousand.
Even in order to guard these prisoners, Shen Chen had to place at least 40,000 people in the rear, jointly guarded by Zhang Xiu, Liao Hua, and Mengda tribes. He also ordered 5,000 Kou Feng tribes to go south to Jingnan, taking Jingnan together with Guiyang. The six southern counties were recovered.
By September 26, Xiahou Dun finally couldn't hold on any longer and wanted to break out of the encirclement.
It's not that he didn't want to hold on to the city, but in history, when Lu Chang was guarding Xiangyang, there were only a few thousand people in the city, and there was not much food and grass needed. In addition, the city of Xiangyang was high, so Guan Yu placed his main attack points on Fancheng and the Yu Jin and Xu Huang tribe who came to help. He can hold on for so long.
But now Xiahou Dun has more than 40,000 people in Xiangyang, and the city is flooded again. A lot of food and grass are wet and moldy and cannot be eaten.
More than 40,000 people consume a lot of food and grass every day. Originally, the food he moved from the military camp to the city was enough for four or five months, but half of it was flooded and they have been holding on for more than a month. The food they have now can only store more food. It lasted less than a month.
Based on the current situation, he judged that if he did not choose to break out, all the soldiers in the city would starve to death in two months, and everyone would have to eat the corpses of soldiers to survive.
Therefore, he sent a messenger out of the West City Gate every night, heading towards Longzhong, and then ran to Jiangxinzhou on the upper reaches of the Han River. He took a boat to Yancheng to discuss with Xiahou Yuan, Xu Huang and others, urging them to come to rescue as soon as possible or assist him in evacuating.
Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang couldn't come up with an idea, so they had to ask Guo Jia to go to the front line to plan for them.
Guo Jia was seriously ill at that time and had a fever that wouldn't go away all day long. According to history, he died of the illness more than ten years ago.
Thanks to Shen Chen's change of history, he did not go to the bitter cold places in the north of the Great Wall, and he managed to survive from fatal diseases such as pneumonia.
But my body is like this. When I was young, I was uninhibited and liked wine and beautiful women. My body was hollowed out by wine and sex. Now I am fifty years old and my health is deteriorating. Now I have to drag my sick body to the front line to advise Xia Houyuan and others. , which is also heartbreaking.
However, Guo Jia still held up his body and formulated two methods for Xiahou Dun, one was to hold on, and the other was to evacuate. However, although there was a specific action plan, it still depended on Cao Cao's wishes, so now he could only remain in a stalemate.
As a result, Xiahou Dun still insisted on being a tortoise shell in Xiangyang City. Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang were stopped by Shen Chen on Lingyang Slope north of Fancheng. The troops of both sides were locked in a confrontation and could not make any progress.
Now they are all waiting for news from Cao Cao. Cao Cao will have to make the final decision whether to withdraw or to continue fighting.
However, as the war came to a standstill in late September, the current situation gradually became clear.
Since Fancheng in Jiangling was captured and Yiling Yidao was captured, for Shen Chen, the crisis in Jingzhou was completely resolved.
At present, he probably has less than 100,000 people in Xiangfan, and under his command are generals such as Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Lu Chang, Wenpin, Shamoke, and Shen Tao.
At first, 60,000 troops marched northward, and then they joined Zhou Buyi and the Wenpin Department to have 75,000 people. Later, 20,000 people from the Zhao Yun Department and the Shamoke Department came, for a total of 95,000.
As for Cao's army, Xiahou Dun's troops numbered about 40,000, Xiahou Yuan's and Xu Huang's tribes totaled about 40,000, and there were about 20,000 to 30,000 troops originally stationed in Wancheng, Xinye and other places in the rear.
In addition, there are more than 10,000 and close to 20,000 people from Zang Ba's tribe who are still on their way.
As for Zhang Liao's troops, due to Cao Pi's frame-up of Cao Zhi, they had to go back and forth from Chang'an to Luoyang twice. In addition, Zhang Liao rushed from Huainan to Yecheng to lead the army, and then went south from Yecheng to Nanyang. The journey was really long.
This is the case in history. By the time he arrived, Guan Yu had already withdrawn his troops because of Lü Meng's sneak attack.
It was November of the 24th year of Jian'an, so he had to wait until November to arrive in Nanyang.
Therefore, if the reinforcements of Zang Ba and Zhang Liao are not included, Cao's army in Xiangfan is currently about 110,000.
It seems that one hundred thousand versus one hundred thousand, Shen Chen is inferior.
However, due to Shen Chen's victory over Fancheng, the morale of the soldiers increased greatly. The soldiers' fighting spirit was very high and their combat effectiveness was very strong. Therefore, Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang did not dare to take the initiative to attack.
And in the Xiakou area.
Sun Quan currently has about 40,000 people in Shaxian. Originally there were more than 30,000 people, but the remnants of Lü Meng's army that were wiped out include thousands of people from Quan Zong and Zhu Ran's tribe who escaped.
There are about 20,000 Cheng Pu's troops in Zhouling, and there are still 10,000 to 20,000 troops stationed in Jiangxia and Xiling.
Therefore, there are still about 80,000 people in Sun Quan's remnant army.
Moreover, the morale of these people is low and their military morale is disorganized. For example, the Jiangdong Army in the Xiling area of Jiangxia was even beaten to a pulp by former Jingzhou Army veterans stationed in Jiangxia. This shows their current situation.
Excluding the tens of thousands of retired Lei Xu soldiers from the Anlu direction, Shen Chen's army numbered approximately 50,000, led by Huang She as the main general and Gan Ning as the deputy general.
Huang She's more than 30,000 men were originally surrounded by Sun Quan's 50,000 men.
However, Huang Zhong and Gan Ning rescued him. Shen Chen left 20,000 men under the command of Gan Ning, plus Huang She's troops totaling 50,000, and surrounded Sun Quan's troops.
Although 50,000 troops did not have an advantage against 50,000 troops, Huang Zhong and Gan Ning raided the dock outside the city and robbed many of Sun Quan's ships. Sun Quan lacked ships to escape at that time. He split his forces with Cheng Pu and was trapped in Shaxian. Extremely embarrassing.
As a result, the current situation has undergone a shocking turn.
When Sun Quan attacked Jingzhou, Cao Wei's army numbered 100,000, and Sun Quan's army numbered 170,000. However, Shen Chen only had 70,000 of his own troops, and more than 30,000 of Xiakou Huangshe who was still under siege.
When Huang Zhong came to help with 70,000 people and first destroyed Lu Meng's army in Jiangling, the situation was much better.
Lu Meng originally had 60,000 men, but he divided 8,000 men for Ding Feng to rush to aid Yiling. As a result, in the battle of Jiangling, Shen Chen wiped out more than 40,000 Jiangdong troops, and the strength comparison between the two sides suddenly became 170,000 against 220,000.
Later, Liao Hua from Jiangzhou, more than 8,000 people from Zhao Rong's tribe, Meng Da from Shangyong Fanling, and more than 10,000 people from Kou Feng's tribe came to help Shen Chen one after another.
The Jingzhou Army now had almost 200,000 troops.
Now Fancheng has been conquered, more than 30,000 people from Yujin have been wiped out, and more than 40,000 people from Sun Jiao's tribe are gone, including Lu Meng's tribe. Cao Cao has lost more than 30,000 from Yujin's tribe, Sun Quan has lost nearly 90,000 from Lu Meng's tribe, and Sun Jiao's tribe has lost nearly 90,000.
The comparison of the strength of the two sides suddenly became 200,000 vs. 160,000. The advantage lies with Shen Chen!
However, this data cannot be considered accurate, because in the Xiangfan area in the north, Shen Chen's 100,000 troops faced Cao Wei's 110,000 troops, and in the Xiakou area in the south, Ganning Huangshe's 50,000 troops faced Sun Quan's 80,000 remnant troops.
There were still 40,000 people left in Yicheng and Dangyang in the rear to guard the captured troops of Cao Cao and Sun Quan, so Shen Chen should actually have suffered about 10,000 battle losses.
But this is already amazing.
Sun Quan originally had 170,000 men, but Shen Chen defeated 90,000 of them. Cao Cao's 100,000 men were defeated and lost 30,000.
And his own losses were only more than 10,000 people.
This is undoubtedly a big win.
It is enough to rival any beautiful victory in China's five thousand years of splendid history, and it is even enough to rank among the best among those classic battles.
And this battle changed the original historical separation of the Three Kingdoms.
Because when looking at the battlefield situation, we cannot only focus on the battle losses of both sides and the strength of the troops directly engaged.
Not counting the civilians, corvees, and auxiliary troops recruited by the three parties, as well as the soldiers and horses fighting between Liu Bei and Cao Cao in Guanzhong.
Otherwise, if calculated carefully, this war would directly involve millions of people.
The population indirectly affected is even larger.
For example, more than one million people in Nanyang were occupied by Cao Wei, as well as the soldiers and civilians who were affected by the flood in Xiangfan, the Han River and the Yangtze River.
And because Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan launched large-scale battles, the civilians responsible for transporting grain and grass in the rear, Guizhou leaders, etc., I am afraid that tens of millions of people in total were implicated.
We must know that the total population of this period in history was only 20 to 30 million, because in history from the Battle of Chibi in the 13th year of Jian'an to the Battle of Xiangfan in the 24th year of Jian'an, many large-scale plagues occurred in the middle, and the population also increased. This period was sharply reduced.
There were originally 50 to 60 million people at the end of the Han Dynasty, but this was reduced by half by the end of the Jian'an period.
Nowadays, although Shen Chen vigorously promotes Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases" and the situation is much better, many people are still swept by the plague.
Therefore, the current number of people is estimated to be only over 30 million, and the Battle of Jiangling, the Battle of Yiling and the yet-to-be-ended Battle of Xiangfan directly or indirectly involved one-third of the country's population in the late Han Dynasty.
This shows how great the impact of this battle was.
It is almost hollowing out the national power of the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu in history, as well as the national destiny of the three parties.
It's just that in history, Liu Bei's national destiny lasted less than a month from its peak to its decline. In the Battle of Hanzhong, seven armies were flooded and he was defeated in Maicheng shortly after.
But now Shen Chen had won a great victory, almost destroying Sun Quan's national power and destiny, and Jiangdong no longer had any extra troops to resist.
If Sun Quan dies, Jiangdong can be easily occupied in less than a month. Even if Sun Quan does not die, he will not be able to hold on for long.
Therefore, Shen Chen did not concentrate his main force to encircle and suppress Sun Quan, but instead stared at Xiangfan and fought with Cao's army.
Now is the time to begin to undermine Cao Cao's national power and destiny.
As long as we can defeat Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Xu Huang and Zang Ba who came to help, no matter how strong Cao Wei's foundation is, it will still be broken and he will not be able to go south for at least a few years.
At that time, Liu Bei's group can easily destroy Jiangdong, pacify Yangzhou, and occupy the entire south.
Then he started the Northern Expedition and conquered the Central Plains.
The situation in the Northern and Southern Dynasties will also begin two hundred years in advance.