Chapter 1300: Turn to Tiger Forest and retreat smoothly?
Chapter 1300: Turning to Hulin, did the retreat go smoothly?
All in all, because he encountered an unexpected blockage, after careful consideration, Zhuge Liang decided to temporarily adjust his retreat route.
After all, no matter what, if we reunite near Wancheng, it is not too far from Qichun. Even if we encounter an enemy in Lujiang, our troops currently stationed in Jiangxia will be able to arrive quickly.
The only variable may be...
"What happened to Cao Cao recently?"
Pang Tong suddenly asked this question for no reason.
Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and immediately replied:
"Busy with their affairs in the country, the soldiers and horses on the border show no signs of moving. What's wrong, Shi Yuan?
What did you think of?"
"No……"
Pang Tong got the answer, rubbed his chin and began to think deeply. He took the map in Zhuge Liang's hand and looked at it carefully.
This map was a great gift given to Liu Bei when he first arrived a few years ago. It was thanks to this map that they were able to continuously deal with the Jiangdong people in such a complicated Jiangdong territory.
However, this map has a very obvious flaw that many people have not noticed.
Pang Tong held up the map, his fingers and eyes slowly moving towards the location that may have been the center of all conflicts in the world in the past six months - Jiangxia.
Cao Cao was fighting for Jiangxia, so he had been sending Cao Ren to interfere with various affairs in Jingnan. Sun Quan was fighting for Jiangxia. If Guan Yu hadn't defeated him on the spot in the battle on the river a year ago, how could they have lost their wives and lost their troops?
Liu Bei, that is, they... are also fighting for Jiangxia.
Whether with Sun Quan or Zhang Zhao...Jiang Xia is the initiator and end of all their tactics.
As a county in the center of Jingzhou, Jiangxia does not have sufficient economic or military resources. However, the reason why it has aroused competition from many parties is because of the intricate waterways within its territory - Jiangxia is the transportation hub of Jingzhou.
Those who master Jiangxia can master the ability to come and go freely within Jingzhou.
You can know this just by looking at the current mobilization of their troops.
Years ago, due to the constant stalemate between the two sides at Xiakou, Guan Yu's defense front was lengthened, and Jingnan also suffered a certain amount of internal losses.
Guan Yu was on guard against Cao Ren in the north, and at the same time had a stalemate with Lu Su who was still in Qichun at the time. Naturally, he was very worried after going back and forth.
But it's different now.
Zhang Zhao's unexpected fall allowed them to reap the benefits and take over all the Jiangxia counties that Jiangdong had previously occupied without a single blow. In particular, they took control of Wuchang, which was once an extremely important military town on the western frontier of Jiangdong. Guan Yu's previously huge
The defensive pressure was relieved immediately.
Some people may wonder why Guan Yu was so exhausted before when he was clearly looking after both sides, but now he seems to be sitting on the high platform.
The reason is here. With Wuchang, Guan Yu's defensive pressure now becomes Cao Ren's defensive pressure.
You can know this just by looking at the map - Jiangxia and Qichun, these two places are like horns, penetrating deeply into the hinterland of Wei State, bordering Yuzhou and North Jingzhou, and can threaten Xudu at any time
This kind of city is still extremely important to the Wei State.
"Hmm... Maybe I'm overthinking it. Cao Cao probably doesn't have the energy to organize such a big war now... Where is General Guan?
Are you in Jiangxia?"
"Here in Xiakou, as long as there is a slight hint of enemy activity, General Guan can quickly come to meet us and cover our retreat."
"That's good."
Pang Tong nodded, and upon hearing that Guan Yu had arrived at Xiakou, Pang Tong was somewhat relieved.
Liu Bei and both of them are not in Jingnan. The person who controls most of the elite in Jingnan now is Guan Yu. It can be said that Guan Yu is the supporter for all of them.
In fact, after the Battle of Chibi, Guan Yu had a rather bad relationship with Zhuge Liang for a period of time...
He thought that Zhuge Liang, a later man, seemed to be targeting him and deliberately prevented him from participating in the war.
But as time went by, and after Pang Tong Fazheng and others joined, everyone praised Guan Yu for his duties, which naturally caused Guan Yu's proud temperament to change.
He is now more and more able to play the role of "Northern Wall of Jingnan". As the saying goes, the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. He understands that Zhuge Liang has to give him the task of guarding Jingnan every time he goes on an expedition. This is not to exclude him.
On the contrary, I have absolute trust in him.
All in all, with Guan Yu here, even Pang Tong felt a lot more at ease.
"It's not just General Guan... Shi Yuan, the things you asked General Huang to arrange should be already being prepared. When we return to Jingnan, we will immediately..."
"Don't panic about this, take it step by step, and no one in the army knows about it at the moment. Be careful that walls have ears - Yi Xiaotian is good at this."
Pang Tong reminded Zhuge Liang carefully, and Zhuge Liang quickly shut up.
It seemed that they were not only discussing retreat, but also discussing something further away.
As for walls having ears... Zhuge Liang is probably more careful than anyone else.
——
The subsequent retreat of Liu Bei's army seemed much smoother.
No wonder, starting from Xindu and heading northwest, except for the two relatively large cities of Lingyang and Lincheng nearby, the rest of the place is all the backcountry of Jiangdong - Jiangdong is not rich everywhere, let alone nearby.
Over the past few years, there has been a lot of emptiness inside Jiangdong. If you fight with them, you will have already worn out your trousers.
Or it could be said that Liu Bei had a way out from the beginning to the end. His way out was that others had no way out. Once he didn't fight hard, others would naturally not fight hard either.
This...is how it should be.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and Liu Bei's army arrived at Hulin - a city called Wulin.
The city here not only functions as a military town, but is also a pretty good port.
It is less than fifty miles away from Wankou upstream. Whether you are going to Wancheng or going directly down the river to Chaisang, it is an excellent transit point.
But...for Zhuge Liang and others, it was obvious that they had encountered even more unexpected troubles.
Here’s the thing…
When they first arrived in Hulin, they estimated that their navy should have arrived nearby. Zhuge Liang's previous order was for the navy to meet them near Chaisang. However, no matter what, Wu Ban passed by Hulin and even Wankou.
Chen Shi, logically speaking, should have set up a stronghold nearby and waited for the return of their army to establish contact.
But…
Looking around the entire Hulin area, not only were Wu Ban and Chen Shi's troops not seen, but when Zhuge Liang and the others were resting, someone noticed something strange floating on the river.
He didn't take it seriously at first, but when Zhuge Liang saw more and more floating objects on the river with his own eyes and picked up some for inspection, he finally realized the seriousness of the problem.