In November of the seventh year of Zhang Wu, Cao Pi died of illness in the West Hall of the Luoyang Palace at the age of forty-one.
Prince Cao Rui inherited the throne.
After Cao Rui came to power, he urgently appointed Chen Qun as Sikong, responsible for the affairs of the Shangshu, and in charge of national government affairs.
Sima Yi was the general of the Fu army and went to Henan to stabilize the situation in the south.
After Cao Xiu's death, Huainan was completely lost, and the entire Runan, Pei, Xuzhou and Yingchuan areas were facing attack by the Han Dynasty.
The most important thing is that there is a serious lack of troops, so that the entire southern and southeastern defense lines are extremely weak.
You must know that Cao Wei's current military strength is only 300,000.
While there are about 100,000 troops on the Western Front, and a small number of Central Army troops on the Southern Front, there are only about 200,000 troops in total.
This was at the expense of abandoning Youzhou, Bingzhou and other frontier troops in order to gather so many troops.
In addition, the hinterlands of Hebei, Shandong, and Henan are now almost unguarded, with almost no local troops, and only a few county government officials are left to barely maintain law and order.
On the other hand, the Han Dynasty in the south had unprecedentedly strong military strength.
Shen Chen had 80,000 troops in Chang'an, but there were about 20,000 local troops in Liangzhou, and there were also some garrison troops in Hanzhong, Yizhou, and Ningzhou, totaling about 30,000 to 40,000 troops.
The main force led by Zhuge Liang in Nanyang is about 120,000, but there are local county soldiers in Nanjun, Jiangxia, Xiangzhou and even Jiaozhou, at least 30,000 or more.
This does not include the Jiangxia Navy. If the Jiangxia Navy is also included, the entire strength of Jingzhou is about 200,000, which is a very large number of soldiers and horses.
The number of troops on the Yangzhou side is smaller.
The main reason is that Jiangdong followed Sun Quan in the war in the early years, which consumed a lot of young and strong labor force, and the population dropped sharply.
After Liu Bei ascended the throne, he adopted a strategy of recuperating and recuperating in Yangzhou, which meant that some of the Yangzhou soldiers were young and strong, and the other part of the soldiers were actually from Jingzhou, so the Jiangdong Army only had less than 100,000 soldiers.
There are 80,000 Guan Yu's main force, and the other 20,000 are scattered in various counties in Yangzhou as county soldiers. It is this part of the army that is relied on to pacify Sun Quan.
Calculated in this way, the total military strength of the entire south reached more than 400,000, which is equivalent to the total of Liu Bei's group and Sun Quan's group in history.
However, although the total strength of Liu Bei's group was larger than that of the north, it was not as extreme as Cao Wei who transferred all its troops to the southern border. Instead, it stationed many troops in the rear.
For example, the Jiangxia Navy is currently stationed in Lingnan, radiating across Guangdong and Guangxi, and attacking Jiaozhi. There are also local garrison troops in Liangzhou, Yizhou, and Yangzhou to maintain public order in counties and counties.
So if we only count the frontal battlefield, both sides actually have about 300,000 soldiers.
It's just that Cao Wei's elite soldiers were almost wiped out in several battles. Now only some of the frontier troops can be called elite. The troops on the western and southern fronts are often mixed with half-old soldiers and half-new ones, and their combat effectiveness is worrying. .
Two months later, at the beginning of 228 AD, Liu Chan officially changed the Yuan Dynasty to Jianxing, and the Cao Wei Dynasty in the north also changed the Yuan Dynasty to Taihe. The Han, Wei, Southern and Northern Dynasties also officially entered a new stage.
Although Cao Wei's side was mainly defensive before, it was in a strategic defensive counterattack, and there was still room for counterattack.
But now it has finished and started to go on the defensive.
In January of Jianxing Spring, at Weiyang Palace in Chang'an, snow began to fall on the ground.
At the end of last year, heavy snow covered Liangzhou, and a cold wave from the north swept across Guanzhong, causing the temperature here to drop sharply.
Shen Chen sat cross-legged on the corridor of the right side hall of Weiyang Palace, watching the snowflakes flying in the courtyard, and put down the pen in his hand.
When he has nothing to do recently, he is also writing a book, a military book.
In literature, he has reached a very high level. The status of "Zhu Ziyan", "Shen Shi Jing Ji" and "Lun Ren" in the southern Han Dynasty is almost equal to that of the Seven Classics of Confucianism, and even accounts for more than the proportion in the imperial examination. The Seven Classics of Confucianism.
In terms of martial arts, we are now just short of unifying the world. After barely trying to unify the world, we can send troops to Mobei, sweep across the Wuhu like Xianbei Wuhuan, seal the wolf to Xu, Yanran, and the like.
This aspect is still on the way, so just like Cao Cao began to write the "New Book of Mengde" in his later years, he first wrote down the military strategy before talking about it.
The main reason is that this thing is really useful and can be used to teach students.
Although the art of war requires death and adaptability, no one is a born military strategist, and you still have to learn what you need to learn.
Just like no matter how awesome Li Yunlong is, he still wants to be a student of Chang Naichao.
Shen Chen stared at the snow that was still falling. He was waiting for the snow to melt in spring. Fighting in the snow was indeed not a good thing.
"Master."
At this moment, Jiang Wei and Deng Ai walked in and saluted Shen Chen.
Shen Chen nodded slightly and said, "What's wrong?"
"The river is melting."
Jiang Wei said.
"Um."
Shen Chen said: "This is good news. It means that the weather is getting warmer. The snow will stop soon and we can send troops."
The heavy snow at the end of last year caused the Yellow River to freeze.
But it is a pity that this snow did not allow the army to pass unimpeded like when the Northern Wei Dynasty pursued Hou Yan.
There may be two or three inches of ice on the river, that is, four to seven centimeters. It is difficult for people to stand on it. If anyone steps on it, the ice will crack, let alone carriages, horses and luggage. There will definitely be large-scale collapse.
Therefore, for safety reasons, Shen Chen did not gather his troops to attack Hedong.
But this is not a bad thing, because Cao Jun will definitely relax his vigilance, knowing that they will not be able to cross the river. After the ice melts, they may make a sudden attack, and the other party may not be able to react.
Deng Ai then said: "Master, we have harvested millions of shi of corn this year, and together with the wheat harvest last May, we have plenty of food and grass."
"good."
Shen Chen asked: "How many people are there in Guanzhong now?"
"More than 40,000 households, less than 200,000 people."
"There are many fields and countless wastelands in Guanzhong. What we lack now is not land, but Dingkou. I remember when Cao Cao moved to Liangzhou and Qiangdi, and the Han people went to Hedong to farm and herd?"
"Yes."
"There are quite a lot of Hu people in Xiliang. Some of them can migrate to Zuofengyi. The grass there is almost waist-high. In the future, the country will have its own pastures and raise its own horses. These Hu people can also be Sinicized."
"Does Master mean that we move some barbarian tribes here?"
Jiang Wei asked in surprise.
Although Shen Chen's policy in Liangzhou was based on the equality between Hu and Han, Guanzhong has always been the habitat of Han people. Will letting the Hu people in bring some unnecessary trouble?
Shen Chen nodded: "Well, recently the Southern Huns sent envoys to secretly defect to Guanzhong, so there is no problem in settling some barbarians in Guanzhong."
The objective reason for the Wuhu rebellion in China was that Cao Cao migrated a large number of Hu people to Guanzhong, Bingzhou, and Youzhou, which resulted in all the borders of the Han Dynasty being inhabited by Hu people. Once civil strife broke out in the Central Plains dynasty, the Wuhu people would go south and drink from the Yangtze River.
But the main reason is that the Jin Dynasty itself was too useless.
During the Three Kingdoms period in history, which country could not violently beat up barbarians?
The essence of the Hu people is that if you are strong, they will be your vassals, and if you are weak, they will bite you back.
Shen Chen is not that holy and believes that as long as he is a human being, he should be equal, but he will not discriminate against the Hu people who really want to join him.
Now Cao Wei is on the verge of collapse after several battles. The Southern Xiongnu and some small tribes of barbarians have secretly submitted letters to him to seek refuge. It just so happens that the Guanzhong area is currently lacking in population, and the weeds and basil grow more than cow hair, making it suitable for grazing and breeding.
So Shen Chen planned to move some of the Hu people to Zuo Fengyi, so that he would have a stable source of horses. When the horses were lost, he would not need to mobilize thousands of miles from Liangzhou.
As for the issue of Wu Huan Hua that may arise later?
hehe.
If the Hu people are obedient and become Han people, then they will be Han people. In the future, when they are registered as citizens and issued identity certificates, they will become one of the Han ethnic minorities.
If you don't obey, you will naturally have to raise the butcher knife in your hand.
"By the way, Master, the new batch of ordnance and equipment built from Hanzhong this year should arrive in a few days. Should we send someone to take care of it?"
Deng Ai remembered something.
"Well, Yan Zhi has a calm personality, let him go."
"yes."
"Is there anything else?"
"Yes, recently there are more and more common people around Chang'an, and the scale of the market is getting bigger and bigger, but we haven't set up a government office yet."
"Well, this is a problem. The military department has always been in charge of it before, but the military department can't handle government affairs for a long time."
Shen Chen thought for a while and said: "I will write a memorial later and send a letter to Xiangyang, asking Xiangyang to send officials to establish the government. The government manages the people and the army fights the war. This is the right thing."
"yes."
Deng Ai nodded.
Now there are 40,000 households in the surrounding areas of Chang'an.
But in Chang'an, Shen Chen had always been in charge of military affairs and people's livelihood in Chang'an before, and no official government had been established yet.
However, there are many trivial matters in government affairs, such as people's livelihood, public security, disputes, penalties, etc., which are all handled by the government. The military handles these. So what is the difference between it and the military government?
So now that there are people now, the supporting facilities still need to keep up.
The three of them chatted about some trivial matters. At present, Jiang Wei and Deng Ai have become mid-level and senior military officers. In addition to being responsible for official duties with him, they also manage government affairs.
Now it seems that it is better to get rid of these government affairs as soon as possible.
While Shen Chen was dealing with the problems one by one, Pang De hurriedly came in and reported to Shen Chen: "Grand Governor, the scouts just came to report that the enemy has started building a wall on the other side of the river."
Shen Chen was a little surprised and said: "Build the village wall? Where to build it?"
"In Kasakazu."
"Interesting, what kind of wall is it?"
"It's just some wooden fences and rammed earth walls. It's quite simple."
Pound described: "Looking at them, it looks like they want to set up a camp directly at the ferry at Pubanjin?"
"Establish a camp in Kabanjin?"
Deng Ai laughed and said: "The camp is directly beside the river. If we go around from another place, wouldn't we be able to block them directly by the river?"
Jiang Wei scratched his head and said, "Could it be that Xu Huang wants to imitate the Marquis of Huaiyin and fight against the odds?"
"It's better to seek your own death."
Shen Chen supported his chin with one hand, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said, "There should be no one as stupid as a horse in this world."
"Master said?"
Jiang Wei didn't hear clearly.
"nothing."
Shen Chen shook his head and said: "Han Xin was able to fight with his last resort because he could command the army perfectly, and when King Zhao's army was chasing, their formations were scattered and he rushed away. Why does Xu Huang think that he can fight with his last fight?"
"Yes, we have ships and can launch attacks from the river. If he camped near the water, wouldn't that be a dead end?"
Deng Ai was also puzzled.
Shen Chen thought for a moment and said, "Could it be that he wanted to imitate the First Emperor and build a wall by the river to intercept our army?"
"That's quite possible."
Deng Ai said: "Pubanjin is only more than a hundred miles from north to south. If we build a wall here, it will be connected to the mountains in the north and close to the river in the south. It will be difficult for our ships to dock."
"Whether the ship is docked or not, it seems to me that their purpose is not to block the ship, but to block our carriages and horses."
Shen Chen found a map of Hedong from the ground nearby, pointed at it and said, "Look, they built a wall by the river, and the ships can dock. And our ships can't hit them with bows and crossbows as we approach them. But if you want to get off the ship and use the Queyue Formation, I’m afraid it won’t be possible if you are blocked by the village wall.”
Previously, he planned to attack Hedong, and the main force attacked Pubanjin head-on. He planned to use Queyue Formation to deal with Xu Huang's mid-crossing attack, so that after his main force successfully crossed the river, he could directly attack Puban County where Xu Huang was stationed.
Then Zhao Yun and Pang De's partial division marched all the way from Huayin to Tongguan to intercept Cao Zhen's reinforcements, and crossed the river from Longmen to attack Pishi.
With this kind of three-sided containment, no matter whether the main force or the partial troops, they can launch a powerful attack on Cao's army.
But now Xu Huang is building a wall. His wall is relatively simple and short in distance. It is not as troublesome as Qin Shihuang's Great Wall. I am afraid that a defense line of more than 100 miles can be built in a few months.
When his ships arrive at Pubanjin, there will definitely be no problem docking. Even soldiers can go down and demolish the fortress wall, but the carriages and horses will not be able to do it.
Without the Queyue Formation, Xu Huang could completely attack halfway across the river and surprise his soldiers disembarking.
"From what Shijun said, it seems that Xu Huang is specifically targeting our Queyue Formation."
Jiang Wei heard Shen Chen's analysis and wondered: "But how did Xu Huang know that we were planning to use the Moon Formation to attack?"
"Is it possible that our army has an insider?"
Deng Ai was shocked.
Shen Chen originally planned to use Queyue Formation, but Yu Jin was too timid and did not take the initiative, resulting in no success.
Therefore, only a few people know about this formation.
If Xu Huang really built the wall by the river specifically to deal with the Queyue Formation, wouldn't that mean there was a spy at the top?
Shen Chen rolled his eyes at him and said: "Don't be suspicious. I read the Generalissimo's battle report before. In the battle of Shazhou Island, the Generalissimo used my Queyue Formation. Maybe it was the Wei soldiers who escaped who said so."
"If this is the case, it will be difficult for us to get ashore."
Deng Ai hesitated.
People built a wall by the river. If the fleet approached, they would definitely be attacked. Without the cover of chariots and horses, once Cao Jun discovered them, the cavalry could quickly approach the battlefield, and then use the wall to fight back with bows and crossbows.
Although their ships were in a condescending position, as long as Xu Huang was not stupid, they would definitely leave a buffer zone of dozens of steps along the river. In this way, their crossbows would be blocked by the wall, and the wall would become a bunker for the enemy.
Only Shen Chen looked at the map and pondered for a long time, then pointed to the mountains to the north and said: "It's interesting, originally I didn't plan to march from here, but if Xu Huang built the wall, wouldn't it be a Maginot Line of Defense? What will happen if I march from here?"
"What is the Maginot Line?"
Several people were surprised.
"nothing."
Shen Chen said: "Let him build the wall. Tomorrow, we will send a few smart people to cross the river from here and go to the mountains to investigate and see if we can find a road. If there is no road, it doesn't matter, as long as we can open up a road. Come out, and I will let Xu Huang know what it means to have a divine weapon descending from the sky."
"only!"
How many people responded?
Pound immediately made arrangements.
Shen Chen looked at the map and fell into deep thought.
There are still a lot of cavalry on Cao's side.
Xu Huang probably guessed that Shen Chen planned to cross the river by boat to attack.
Guan Yu used Queyue Formation once in the Huainan area, and he guessed how Shen Chen planned to deal with his cavalry.
So he built a stronghold wall and wanted to abolish the Queyue Formation.
But he didn't know that if this was the case, then why would he forcefully attack the stronghold wall?
Wouldn't it be better to just avoid it?
If a road can be found in the northern mountains, it will definitely give Cao Jun a surprise.
Today is just one chapter. Because there was a power outage during the day and the call didn't come back until the afternoon, I fell asleep due to the heat and didn't wake up until around six in the afternoon with a headache.