On June 20th, in the government office of Hefei City, Huainan, Guan Yu had been feeling a little restless and depressed recently.
He didn't know why, he seemed to feel something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Is it an illusion?
He said to himself in his heart.
Guan Yu thought about the recent military situation in Huainan. At present, Cao Wei has been completely driven out of Huainan. Only Cao Jun is stationed in Shouchun, Jiujiang and Quyang, Xiqu.
Due to food and armament problems, it is not easy to go north, so he is now reorganizing military affairs.
Although the offensive has been stopped, it is obviously impossible for Cao Wei to launch a counterattack, because Huainan is currently in the rainy season in the middle and lower reaches of the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River.
Heavy rain poured down, making Huainan full of swamps and lakes. The roads were slippery and difficult to navigate, making it impossible for food and troops to pass. Cao Wei could hardly march to fight.
In recent years, the weather has become more and more weird. Huainan is originally a prosperous land, but in the past ten years, there have been either heavy rains or severe droughts.
According to Xiaoqing, it seems to be called the Little Ice Age, which caused drastic changes in the weather, either to death from cold or heat.
Therefore, if both sides want to fight, no matter whether they go south or north, they have to wait for good weather.
Since we can't fight, what's there to worry about?
Guan Yu thought.
Could it be that his own death is imminent?
Thinking of watching the death of his friend Zhang Liao a few days ago, Guan Yu could not help but feel a little sad.
Recently I heard that Huang Zhong, Jia Xu, Zhang Xiu, Huang She and others died of illness one after another, and some veterans also fell ill. Life is always so unpredictable, which is sad.
"Father."
Guan Ping was processing official documents nearby. When he saw Guan Yu sitting on the main seat and looking at the documents in his hands, he seemed a little absent-minded, so he asked: "Is father worried about something?"
Guan Yu put down the document and sighed: "Maybe he is worried about your third uncle."
Guan Ping smiled and said: "Although the third uncle is reckless, but there are two deputy prime ministers watching over him, nothing will happen to him. Cao Wei is now trying his best to provoke him and wants to force the third uncle to fight, but even if it is a decisive battle, how many points can they have?"
What are the chances of winning? The Hussars General sent all his cavalry."
"Um."
Guan Yu smiled and said: "Xiaoqing helped a lot in Guanzhong. If he hadn't trained an elite cavalry, I'm afraid my third brother might have been under pressure when Cao Pi's army pressed on."
Guan Ping said: "Father, now that Cao Jun has built a defense line north of the Huaihe River, should we also feign an attack to help relieve the pressure on Third Uncle's side?"
"Hmm."
Guan Yu pondered and nodded: "Well, maybe you can give it a try."
Two people were chatting.
Suddenly a messenger came from outside to report: "Report."
"What's the matter?"
"Your Majesty sent an envoy to summon the general back to Xiangyang."
"Call me back to Xiangyang?"
Guan Yu was puzzled.
He was preparing for military affairs and was planning to attack Henan at the end of the year. Why was he suddenly called back?
Guan Ping was also puzzled and asked: "Why did your Majesty suddenly call my father back?"
The messenger said: "Your Majesty is not in good health and would like to see the general."
"ah?"
Guan Yu suddenly stood up from his seat, frowned and said to Guan Ping, "No wonder I've been feeling uneasy lately. His Majesty was ill last year. I must go back and call Wei Yan over."
"yes."
Guan Ping ran out in a hurry.
After a while, Wei Yan was hurriedly called in, held his hands in his hands and said, "General."
"The article is long."
Guan Yu had already changed his clothes at this time and said to him seriously: "Your Majesty has urgently called me back to Xiangyang. You are temporarily the chief general and in charge of the military affairs of the army. Remember, you must not take the initiative to attack unless it is absolutely necessary."
"only."
Wei Yan hurriedly responded.
Historically, Wei Yan had an arrogant temperament and was at odds with Yang Yi. He was eventually killed by Ma Dai sent by Yang Yi after Zhuge Liang's death.
But under Guan Yu, no matter how arrogant you are, you still have to be restrained.
With this great god at his head, Wei Yan naturally did not dare to take credit and be as arrogant as Zhuge Liang's men.
Although he suddenly became the commander-in-chief at this time, he did not dare to neglect and hurriedly went to lead Guan Yu's horse.
Guan Yu then ordered Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao to serve as Wei Yan's left and right lieutenants. The other generals obeyed his orders and garrisoned Hefei and surrounding cities. He took Guan Ping to the south of Chaohu Lake and returned to Xiangyang by boat.
At this time, Shen Chen actually had not received the order yet.
Guanzhong is relatively close to Nanyang, about a thousand miles away. However, Xiangyang to Hefei is much farther, more than 800 kilometers along the Yangtze River, nearly two thousand miles away.
But if you can't stand it, you can take the waterway, traveling day and night, from the Han River southward, and then eastward along the Yangtze River. The courier took a speedboat almost at a speed of more than 20 kilometers per hour, and delivered the letter to Hefei in just four days.
However, relatively speaking, during the three years when Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen presided over the southern government affairs, they planned to build carrier pigeon bases and post systems in various places to allow rapid communication between Hanzhong, Shu County and Xiangyang.
Although the Chang'an carrier pigeon base has not yet been established, there is already communication between Xiangyang and Wancheng, which saves some distance. Wancheng immediately sent fast horses directly from Wuguan to Guanzhong.
At the same time, Zhang Fei, who was on the front line on the third day, received the urgent report from Wancheng and hurried to Xiangyang.
Five days later, that is, the day after Guan Yu received the letter, Shen Chen received the notice.
Inside the side hall of Weiyang Palace in Chang'an.
Shen Chen was sitting in the main seat and was holding a military meeting with everyone.
It has been a year since he occupied Chang'an.
The Northern Expedition began at the end of the fifth year of Zhang Wu, and then he captured Chang'an City in May of the sixth year of Zhang Wu, and then began to explore Guanzhong.
One year has passed now. Shen Chen migrated people from Bashu, Hanzhong, Nanyang, Liangzhou and other places to the Guanzhong Plain, and began to launch a vigorous land reclamation operation on the 800-mile Qinchuan that was already deserted.
Guanzhong is now a vast land with sparsely populated areas. The government did not forcibly relocate the people, but directly issued a decree. People who voluntarily moved would receive food subsidies from the government and then receive a large amount of land for free.
Taking a family of five as a family, a normal family needs to cultivate at least 28 acres and 40 acres of land to maintain a living.
With the introduction of Champa rice and the comprehensive spread of retting technology, productivity has been greatly improved. Now it only requires 18 urban acres and 26 Han acres, which can basically make a family of five live well.
Therefore, the population in the south has greatly increased. Especially after the oral and calculated taxes were abolished, the land was divided into acres, and only the land tax was collected. The people's desire to have children has greatly increased. Coupled with the post-war baby boom, the number of new students registered last year alone has been greatly increased. The number reached more than 200,000.
When the population increases, land resources become insufficient.
Although Cao Wei's power is smaller than Liu Bei's group, they occupy Henan and Hebei, which has the best land. Almost the entire North China Plain is under their control, and their cultivated land area exceeds that of Liu Bei's group.
Therefore, in order to expand his land, Liu Bei had to vigorously develop terraced fields in the south, while constantly squeezing the family's fields to relieve the pressure on land resources.
But this is obviously not a long-term solution. It is difficult to develop terraced fields, and robbing aristocratic families of their fields would offend the aristocratic families too much.
So we have to think of other ways.
Now that Guanzhong has obtained more than 30,000 square kilometers of land, it is more than enough to support a population of one to two million, so it is natural to carry out immigration and reclamation work.
This will not only quickly enrich the population of Guanzhong and relieve the land pressure in the south, but also allow food to be grown on the spot to provide food for the frontline troops. In the future, there will no longer be a need to transport food long distances from Hanzhong, Nanyang and other places.
The reason for today's meeting is that Cao Wei has been dishonest recently. The cavalry from Hedong has been dispatched, hoping to bypass the Chang'an defense line and sneak attack the military and civilian farming in the Youfufeng area in the rear, destroying Shen Chen's food plan.
Although this part of the cavalry was repulsed by Zhao Yun, they had to guard against it.
Shen Chen looked around at everyone and said: "After one year of preparation, we have sufficient food and grass, and more than 10,000 cavalry have been trained from the rear. The troops and food are fully prepared. I want to advance to the east of Hedong. What do you think?"
Pang De was overjoyed and said: "Captain Governor, I have wanted to attack for a long time. Cao's army in Hedong has repeatedly harassed us. We can't bear it anymore. We don't need to bear it anymore. It's time to defeat them in one fell swoop."
"good."
Zhao Yun also agreed: "Grand Governor, the land east of Hedong is undefeated. It is just the right time to march eastward to Bingzhou and threaten Cao Wei's home base."
"Um."
Shen Chen nodded in agreement, took out the map and said: "Xu Huang is in Puban and Zhu Ling is in Pishi. These two places are the crossings of the river. They must guard the dangerous points. It is not easy to attack by force. It is best to go around them."
Lei Ding, the deputy general next to him, looked at the map, widened his eyes and said: "Grand Governor, the river is so long, is there no place to cross it directly?"
"hehe."
Before Shen Chen spoke, Pang De smiled and explained: "You have never been to Dahe, so you don't know. To the east of Dahe is a mountain range. Although the mountain is not high, it blocks the river. After crossing, you have to climb the mountain. , easily ambushed by the enemy."
The location of this mountain is opposite the Yellow River in Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province, extending all the way down to the river bank. Ronghe Town in Wanrong County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, and Sunji Town in Linyi County, Yuncheng City are near this mountain range.
The mountain range is actually not high. It is just a stretch of hills extending along the banks of the Yellow River. In later generations, there was even a large area of farmland on the west side of the mountain range near the Yellow River beach. It was a plain area fanned out by the alluvial fan of the Yellow River.
But in the Han Dynasty, this was still the waterway of the Yellow River, so after crossing the river, we were directly at the foot of the mountains. Not to mention it was difficult for troops and supplies to cross, and there was also the risk of being ambushed.
Therefore, at that time, the connection between Hedong and the Guanzhong area mainly relied on the Pubanjin Ferry in Puban County, which later became the Yellow River Ferry in Puzhou Town, west of Yongji City, Shanxi Province. Secondly, it was the Longmen Ferry in Pishi County, which later became Shanxi Province. Hejin City, Province.
Only then did Lei Ding understand the reason.
Shen Chen said: "Although Cao's army has occupied these two important river crossings, there are more than a hundred miles of land north and south of Pubanjin, and there are too many loopholes. It is easier to attack by force. I plan to personally lead the army, cross the river from Pubanjin, and lead Zhu Ling came to help. Pang De led a group of troops and crossed the river from Longmen to attack Pishi. Zhao Yun occupied Huayin and threatened Tongguan."
"yes."
Pang De and Zhao Yun immediately took the order.
Shen Chen continued: "As I expected, Cao Zhen of Tongguan probably does not dare to invade Huayin. He will definitely cross the river from Fenglingdu to rush to Xu Huang's aid, and then force him to a decisive battle."
Deng Ai said: "Captain, it is easy to cross the river, but it may not be easy to win. Cao Jun will not sit back and wait for death. What if he attacks halfway across the river?"
Although Hedong was not taken back, there were leaks from all sides. Ma Chao had so many cavalry but he could not intercept Cao Cao, let alone Cao Wei who currently transferred all the main cavalry to the battlefield in Henan?
Therefore, without mobility, Cao Jun would not be able to directly set up a formation on the other side of the river to intercept them from crossing the river.
However, Shen Chen's army now numbered 70,000.
It used to be 80,000.
But more than 20,000 cavalry under his command were sent to the battlefield in Henan, leaving only 50,000 infantry along Chang'an and Zuofengyi.
Last year, Yu Jin continued to train troops in the rear and recruited another 20,000 soldiers. This year, more than 10,000 cavalry were trained. When the follow-up troops arrive, the total number of troops should be 90,000.
Cao Wei's 50,000 troops left behind in the Battle of Chang'an lost more than 30,000, and only more than 10,000 fled back. However, Cao Pi later added 30,000 troops, which was still roughly 100,000.
The troops on both sides were not very large, but one thing was that Shen Chen's army wanted to cross the Yellow River.
Even if some troops were left behind, Zhao Yun was stationed in Huayin, and Pang De led some troops to attack east and west to capture Pishi, the number of troops led by Shen Chen himself would not be less than 50,000.
Crossing the river with so many people is definitely not something that can be accomplished in a short time. Not only does it require a large number of boats, but also pontoons and various facilities are needed.
Cao Jun only needed to build sentry watchtowers along the river bank to observe the situation on the other side of the river. Once he found out that Shen Chen's troops had the idea of crossing the river, they immediately gathered their troops. When half of them had gone ashore and the other half were still crossing the river, they would directly cross halfway. If they attack, the Han army will be in great danger.
But Shen Chen naturally took these factors into consideration and said with a smile: "The navy in Jingzhou has no place to use. Now it is going to Jiaozhou to quell the rebellion and open up the offshore sea. You know why I transferred the craftsmen who made ships in the south at the beginning of this year. Are you coming to Chang'an?"
Jiang Wei said: "The governor wants to cross the river by boat?"
"Um."
Shen Chen nodded and said: "Ships can not only be used to transport food and grass, but also to transport troops. Although the disadvantage is that there are few people in my army who are good at water, they are not used for water battles. Crossing the river is enough. I will use it then. Chariots, cavalry, infantry, and ships formed the Moon Formation, just in time to lure Cao's army to attack."
"Que Yue Formation?"
Jiang Wei wondered: "What kind of formation is this?"
Deng Ai smiled and said: "This is the battle formation created by the governor. The ships are docked, the infantry take the chariots and disembark, and the ships and chariots are used to cover. The formation is set up on the shore. First, it can prevent the cavalry from charging, and secondly, it can prevent the cavalry from charging. Resist the enemy's infantry and crossbows to launch a counterattack."
Shen Chen had used this formation in the battle of Xiangfan, but Yu Jin was too timid and did not dare to fight, which made the Queyue formation useless. Deng Ai followed Zhou Buyi and Shen Chen in the battle and had seen this formation. Law.
Jiang Wei immediately admired him and said: "The Governor is really like a god with his troops."
Pound flattered him and said: "The Governor should write another book on war. Times have changed now. Horses have stirrups and saddles. The previous books on war did not have the use of these equipments. The Governor is the original author, so he should Record it for future generations to read and study."
"General Pang's words are very wonderful. The commander-in-chief's military strategies are no worse than those of his predecessors, so he should write a military book."
"Yes, yes, the Grand Governor is so powerful that he should be remembered for eternity."
"I think it makes sense."
All the soldiers below suddenly burst into rainbow farts, causing the venue to become exaggerated.
Shen Chen waved his hands with a smile and said: "We will discuss military books and other matters in the future after I have brought peace to your majesty. The most urgent task now is to reorganize the military affairs and prepare for the expedition. I want to raid Hedong in August and win the battle within this year." In Bingzhou, I want Cao Wei's Hebei and Henan lands to be under my military attack at any time, do you understand?"
"yes!"
All the soldiers roared in unison.
Once Bingzhou is captured, you can go east to capture Hebei from Taihang Bajing, and you can go south to invade Luoyang and Henan from Taihang Bajing.
At that time, Tongguan will be broken from the rear, and the defense line will naturally be meaningless. The entire Cao Wei will face the threat of Shen Chen's army.
So this battle is very important.
At that moment, Shen Chen prepared to announce the adjournment of the meeting and ordered Pang De and Zhao Yun to act in accordance with the order.
Zhao Yun first stationed at Huayin, while Pang De stationed at Zuo Fengyi to the north.
On the surface, the two were trying to prevent the enemy from continuing to attack the rear, but in fact Shen Chen continued to build ships in Chang'an. By then, soldiers, horses, grain and grass could be transported to the Yellow River through the Wei River, and the war to capture Hedong and Bingzhou was officially launched against Cao Wei.
But at this moment, a messenger hurried in from outside the door and came to the hall to report: "Report, there is a letter from Nanyang. Your Majesty has summoned the governor to go to Xiangyang immediately."
"Your Majesty summoned me?"
Shen Chen was puzzled, and suddenly realized something was wrong, and immediately asked: "How is your Majesty's health?"
"The Prime Minister said that Your Majesty has lost weight and has been bedridden for the past month, unable to get out of bed."
replied the messenger.
Shen Chen sat back on the table and looked towards the south with sad eyes.