June 2, the 25th year of Jian'an, Chaisang County.
Since rain in the Yangtze River is expected from May to October, it has rained lightly in the past two days, and mist has appeared on the river in the early morning.
In the almost imperceptible drizzle, the Jiangdong soldiers who were always paying attention to the river looked into the distance.
Due to a serious shortage of troops, Chaisang was abandoned by Sun Quan and no longer became a bridgehead against Liu Bei's group, but was used as a frontline lookout station.
Therefore, the entire Jiangdong Army in Chaisang County is pitifully small, with only 500 men at a time, who take turns patrolling the Jiang defense every day.
Chaisang City is still some distance from the Yangtze River, so the guard built a watchtower at Jiujiang Pavilion in the north, and sent two teams of soldiers, a hundred people, to patrol and monitor the north bank every day.
At this moment, on the Jiujiang Pavilion Watchtower, a soldier stared intently at the Yangtze River.
The mighty river stretches as far as the eye can see. Except for the occasional protruding mountain islands, only the shadows of hills can be seen on the north bank under the mist, and nothing else can be seen clearly.
After a while, he rubbed his sore eyes from looking at one place for a long time, squatted down from the watchtower, and shouted below: "Hey, Lao Li, it's your turn."
Old Li was still taking a nap under the watchtower and pretended not to hear. This was a hard job, and he could only stare at the water every day, unable to do anything. Whoever wanted to do it could do it. Anyway, he didn't want to suffer this fate again.
When the soldiers above saw that Old Li didn't move, they climbed down from the watchtower with curses and pushed him to wake him up.
"Get up, get up, stop shouting."
Lao Li had no choice but to lazily get up from the ground, dusted himself off, muttered a few words, turned his head, and was about to climb up the watchtower, but suddenly he looked into the distance and froze on the spot, unable to move. Didn't move.
Seeing that he didn't move, the soldier next to him pushed him angrily and said, "What kind of hysteria are you having? If the captain finds out, it won't be as simple as a military stick."
"That way"
Lao Li pointed to the river almost tremblingly, feeling trembling all over his body.
The soldier turned his head to look, and his scalp suddenly felt numb.
I saw countless boats appearing on the vast river at some point, dark shadows in the mist, slowly heading towards Jiujiang.
The next second, the soldier let out a heartbreaking cry: "Enemy attack!"
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
"Dong dong dong dong!"
Suddenly gongs, drums and horns sounded continuously.
Two groups of Soochow soldiers stationed at Jiujiang Pavilion on the south bank of the Yangtze River were in chaos.
Soon they retreated into the city. The general in the city was just a military commander who was in charge of 500 people. He had never seen such a big battle.
Without hesitation, he ordered the city to be abandoned and fled.
This strategy was the result of Qu Junhou's final decision after thinking about it for the past few days.
There is no other way, this is the only way to survive.
resistance?
A dead end.
surrender?
What to do with Jiangdong’s family?
So the only option is to run away.
Anyway, tens of thousands of people's troops were like being run over by wheels, and Chaisang couldn't defend it. It was normal for Marquis Wu to regard them as dead in battle.
After escaping, find a place to hide and hide for three to five months to see what happens afterwards.
If Jiangdong was destroyed, they would take off their military uniforms and run home as common people. If Wu Hou repulsed the enemy, they would pretend to be defeated and retreat into the mountains. They were not deserters. It was better than death anyway.
At that moment, Marquis Qu Jun shouted, and all the soldiers in the city fled from the south gate and ran towards Lushan Mountain in the south. They had stored some food in the mountains over there and could barely survive.
When Guan Yu entered Chaisang and learned that the enemy did not dare to shoot even a single bow and arrow, and Chaisang City was already an empty city, he sneered and said, they are indeed Jiangdong rats.
The next day, Guan Yu left two thousand soldiers behind, and sent his main force eastward, passing through Pengze, taking Wankou, arriving at Songyang, and breaking through Nanling. Within a few days, he captured more than ten fortresses in the east of the Yangtze River.
Sun Quan was very frightened.
If Guan Yu had not waited for Zhao Yun and Ma Chao's army to march along the coast of Jiangbei and join him in Linhu County and Xiang'an County, I am afraid that he would have already reached Linhu and Tongguan Township and started to advance towards Zheqi City.
Just when Guan Yu's army was at its peak, Wei Yan also marched south from Penglize and entered Nanchang.
The Nanchang defenders did not escape.
They descended.
Pound only surrounded the city for two days before the defenders could no longer withstand the pressure and surrendered.
After that, Wei Yan and Pound formally divided their forces in Nanchang. Pound went east to Yuhan County, which was later Yugan County in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province, and then entered Hangzhou City through Yingtan City, Shangrao City, Quzhou City, Jinhua City, and Zhuji City.
Wei Yan, on the other hand, went northeast into Poyang County, which later became Jingdezhen City, then went deep into the southeastern hills, through Huangshan City, and along the trail of later Hangrui Expressway, straight into Yuhang District.
However, compared to the frontal battlefield, the two of them were not moving very fast.
After all, it was a long detour, so when Guan Yu arrived at Nanling, they had just set off.
It is estimated that it will take at least two months to get to Qiantang. If the weather is bad and the rainy season occurs, the date will be postponed.
On June 17, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao's army, which set out from Xunyang, finally arrived.
Logically speaking, the distance from Xunyang to Ruxukou is only six hundred miles, and a normal march would take about ten days, but it took them fifteen days.
The main reason is that the roads are still difficult to walk.
When there was a flood last year, not only Xiangfan was flooded, but as the lower reaches of the Han River, both sides of the Yangtze River were not spared either.
In later generations, a large area north of Anqing City was now a wilderness. After the floods passed, countless swamps and lakes were left, almost submerging the north bank, and the roads were muddy and difficult to navigate, making the soldiers of the three armies miserable.
Fortunately, the transportation of grain and grass was mainly by ship, and the infantry only needed to carry a small amount of supplies. Otherwise, it would have taken at least a month to get there just by traveling this way.
Zhao Yun and Ma Chao's troops arrived to the west of Ruxukou and occupied Linhu County and Xiang'an County on the north bank of the Yangtze River. The location was probably in Xiang'an Town, southwest of Wuwei City, Anhui Province, about 20 kilometers away from Ruxukou.
Guan Yu's tribe was stationed in the north of Tongguan Township on the south bank of the Yangtze River, facing Zhao Yun's tribe and Ma Chao's tribe across the river, forming horns with each other.
After they arrived, Guan Yu quickly made arrangements and sent Zhao Yun to lead 5,000 people north to Dongxingdi, where Chao Lake entered Ruxushui, to guard against an attack by a small force sent by Cao Wei.
Then he ordered Ma Chao to clear out Sun Wu's barracks on the west bank of Ruxushui River, set up their camp there, and control the entire west of Ruxukou and north of the Yangtze River.
By the beginning of July, Ma Chao had completed his task and secured the camp. Guan Yu also completed setting up the rear camp and built three camps. He ordered Huang She and Gan Ning to lead the other two camps, and then Huang She
He stayed behind and went out with 25,000 naval troops.
The waves are rolling on the mighty river, and the Yangtze River is as wide as the sea. Looking from the south bank of the river to the north bank, it is almost impossible to see the end.
Countless ships set off from the newly built pier in Yingzhai in the north of Tongguan Township. Thousands of large and small ships seemed to fill the entire Yangtze River. The connected flags covered the sky and the sun, like a brilliant crimson burning cloud. , moving forward slowly towards the east.
At this moment, Zheqi City on the south bank of the Yangtze River. This city and the Ruxukou Camp on the north bank of the Yangtze River blocked Huang Zu's army. How similar was the situation at that time to now?
At that time, Huang Zu had tens of thousands of Jiangxia naval troops, plus Mei Gan, Chen Lan, Lei Xu and others who defected, with a crowd of more than 100,000.
Moreover, Liu Pan also took a detour from the south to attack Qian Tang.
Sun Quan also felt that his situation was precarious, so with the support of Zhou Yu, Lu Su and others, he reluctantly fought.
But now Zhou Yu, Lu Su and others are dead, and even Lu Meng is dead.
The talent pool in Jiangdong has become extremely thin, with few reliable advisers, fewer and fewer generals capable of fighting, and the number of soldiers is far less than before.
Sun Quan stood on Zheqi City and looked across the river, his heart filled with boredom and various complicated emotions.
There is regret, there is sadness and anger, there is resentment, but there is no guilt.
There is nothing to feel guilty about backstabbing an ally. He is not a moral person to begin with. Even if he regrets, he regrets why he failed instead of succeeding, that's all.
When Guan Yu's fleet appeared on the river and Ma Chao's army appeared on the north bank, the Jiangdong Army in Ruxukou and Zheqi City showed fearful expressions.
Because the strength gap between the two sides is too big.
The current total strength of Jiangdong is only 50,000 to 60,000, but not all of these troops are on the front line. Qiantang needs to be garrisoned, Jianye also needs to be garrisoned, and people are needed for river defense along the coast.
This resulted in less than 40,000 troops on the front lines of Ruxukou and Zheqi City, leaving nearly 20,000 troops to defend other places.
What about the other side?
Liu Bei only dispatched 100,000 troops in this battle against Wu, less than one-third of the country's troops.
But what Guang Ruxukou and Zheqi City had to face were 80,000 soldiers on land and water on the opposite side. The densely packed fleet covered the river, with flags covering the sky and sun, and camps stretching for more than ten miles occupying the entire north bank of the river.
Just looking at this endless enemy flag is enough to make one feel frightened.
Sun Quan was also distressed and said to Kan Ze who was beside him: "Zhang Liao hasn't replied yet? Liu Bei has already hit Ruxukou."
Kanze replied: "Zhang Liao said before that the King of Wei has sent the guard general Cao Chun on the way. He is still arranging his troops. The King of Wei has just calmed down the domestic turmoil and wants to prepare a large army in a short time. No. So easy, they hope we can resist it for at least a month."
"A month?"
Sun Quan pondered: "Reinforcements will arrive in a month?"
"That's how it should be."
"That's fine, if it's only for a month."
Sun Quan breathed out and said: "We must order He Qi, Pan Zhang and Lu Fan to never go out to fight or hold on!"
Now Jiangdong has lost all its generals, and there are no candidates to become the governor.
At this period in history, he chose Lu Xun.
But now Lu Xun was helpless in the face of such a situation, so he could only use He Qi as the main general, Pan Zhang, Lu Fan, Zhu Ran and others to guard Ruxukou in the north, while he personally took charge of Zheqi City.
Soon the order was passed to the Ruxukou camp in the north of the Yangtze River. Each camp closed its gates tightly and guarded the Wubao. Countless archers and crossbowmen went up to the towers for defense.
After Guan Yu arrived at Ruxukou, he did not immediately launch an attack. Instead, he personally took a boat to watch outside the camp.
On top of the huge ship, Guan Yu and Ma Chao looked to the east.
Then I saw that Ruxukou was worthy of being an important place in the east of the Yangtze River. The Wubao stretched vertically and horizontally for more than ten miles. The periphery was no longer an ordinary camp, but a castle like a water tower, a fortress, and a high wall.
As a pass that Sun Quan built for more than ten years, there is a fence on the outside, an inner city inside, and then a school ground, high oars, and earthen walls. There are also water docks built on the river near the Ruxushui River and the Yangtze River.
At the same time, its overall internal environment has three floors inside and three outside, like a maze, with complicated upper and lower structural passages, including high buildings, waterways, baffles, and parapets. Although the overall structure is made of rammed earth on the outside and wood inside, it is still as solid as a rock.
It's harder to fight than a city.
Zheqi City on the other side is not easy to attack, because Zheqi City is built on the Zheqi Ridge in later generations. It is a city on a hill. If Guan Yu's army attacks by force, they have to face up and charge upward. There are crossbows, rolling stones, and wood on top.
It's definitely not vegetarian either.
So unless you attack Ruxukou or Zheqi City, the difficulty is very high.
No wonder Cao Cao and the entire Cao Wei group failed in their four attacks on Ruxukou in history. Such an important town cannot be broken by ordinary people.
After Guan Yu waited and watched, he said to Ma Chao: "I'm afraid it won't be easy to attack head-on. We should take it slow."
Ma Chao has also experienced wars for a long time, so he naturally understands it. He nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, Ruxukou is an important town of Sun Quan. It has been in business for more than ten years. It is indeed not that easy to break through it by force."
"What suggestions does Meng Qi have?"
Guan Yu asked.
Ma Chao thought for a while and said: "We should build pontoons, build large-scale engineering equipment, and attack the north of Ruxukou from the land on the north bank of the river. Only in this way can we give full play to the advantages of the army."
"good."
Guan Yu agreed: "Now Ruxukou is on the other side of the river. If the Guangshui army attacks by force, we will really not be able to take advantage of our large number of troops."
Guan Ping said at the side: "Father, in that case, why don't we cross the river and harass their rear?"
Guan Yu asked back: "Tanzhi, have you seen the navy in Jiangdong?"
Jiangdong navy?
Guan Ping thought for a moment and suddenly broke into a cold sweat: "Their navy is ambushing us?"
"Um."
Guan Yu nodded: "Although we only sent 30,000 naval troops in this battle, the Jiangdong Navy has been crippled by Xiaoqing, so they definitely don't dare to fight us head-on on the river. They can only lie in wait and wait for us to reveal our flaws.
We will attack. If we cross the river and harass the rear, we will be attacked from both sides by them. When the time comes, we won’t be able to keep up with the food and grass, wouldn’t it be a dead end?”
Guan Ping said fearfully: "Fortunately, my father saw through it, otherwise we would have thought that Jiangdong was completely empty."
Guan Yu looked around and said, "Meng Qi is right. Now we should take advantage of our strong troops and strong horses and concentrate our efforts to break through all the way. Zheqi City is easy to defend and difficult to attack on the mountain. The navy can't get up, and the army can't get over either. Then
Let's attack Ruxukou first and attack from the north of their camp."
Ma Chao said with some worry: "I'm afraid that their fortress is so strong that ordinary siege equipment will be difficult to break it."
"Hahahahaha."
Guan Yu stroked his beard and laughed and said: "It doesn't matter. Kong Ming and Xiaoqing improved the stone cart before. They changed the stone cart from throwing to ejection. The range and power were greatly increased. We should use the stone cart to break their Shuilouwu."
Fort!”
After saying that, he turned to look at Ma Chao and said, "Meng Qi."
"The end is here!"
Ma Chao quickly raised his hands and saluted.
"You immediately start building a pontoon bridge upstream of Ruxu River and lead the army across the river. I will lead the navy to support you."
"only."
"Where is Zhao Lei?"
"The end will be here."
Zhao Lei, the commander-in-chief of Guan Yu's tent, came out to parade.
"You are responsible for supervising the construction of equipment and building more stone-making carts."
"yes."
"Where is Gan Ning?"
"The end will be here."
"I order you to lead the navy to counter Ma Chao."
"only."
Everyone got the order one after another.
After Guan Yu inspected Ruxukou, he withdrew his troops in the afternoon.
It's really hard to defeat a regular strong attack.
Therefore, he must give full play to his advantages, attack Ruxukou with both land and water armies at the same time, and make Sun Quan pay the price for daring to divide his troops to guard both sides of the strait!