Chapter 30 The Beginning of the Southern Expedition
For the imperial court that was already planning the southern expedition, the original time to start the southern expedition was in the spring of the eighth year of Yanxi. After all, the imperial army expansion was at the end of the fifth year of Yanxi. By the eighth year of Yanxi, it was about two years
The beginning of the war is exactly the time when an enlisted soldier can skillfully wield a bow. By then, all the materials and baggage for the southern expedition will be ready. Once the spring tide surges, the army can start the southern expedition.
As for how to attack, Chen Chong actually made a complete plan.
The blueprint of the plan came from the lessons of the previous Battle of Jianye. Chen Chong believed that the failure of the Han army at that time was mainly due to two points. The first is that it is recognized that the Han army did not have a naval force that could compete with the Wu people. The second is that the Han army did not have a naval force that could compete with the Wu people.
The point is a strategic issue. The naval problem may not have been solved at the time, but the military disadvantage of the Wu people was real. As long as this was used rationally, the Han army might not be unable to win. However, the Han army did not have the ability to solve the upstream threats at that time.
Under such circumstances, they directly attacked Jianye. As a result, once Zhou Yu defeated the Han navy, the 200,000-strong army was trapped on the south bank of the river, with no way out. And what if the army was not in a hurry to cross the river at that time? It only had to wait for Zhou Yu's reinforcements to arrive first.
If the Jianye, Bashu and Xiangyang Han armies go to capture Jingzhou, is the victory or defeat under Jianye City really important?
Therefore, Chen Chong started from this point and decided to put the main attack direction in Jingzhou and carry out auxiliary attack in the direction of Huainan.
Marshal Guan Yu is responsible for the main attack direction of Jingzhou. The Nanfu and Xifu have a total of 180,000 troops, both of which are controlled by Guan Yu. Nanfu has him as the chief general, and Xifu has Zhang Fei as the chief general. Under his command are Ma Dai and Jiang Wei.
, Deng Ai, Wang Ji, Pang Tong, Li Yi, Shangguan Sheng, Lu Yi, Li Hui, Xi Zhen and other generals can be said to be strong generals. Chen Chong planned and hoped that the Han army would first launch an attack from Xifu. The Xifu army was already at this time.
Nan'an has accumulated an extremely amazing navy. At this time, it only needs to go down the river and attack Jingnan along the south bank to attract the Wu people's ideas. Nanfu can then lead the army south and cross the Han River to attack Xiangyang and Jiangling.
, Anlu Zhucheng. With several times the strength of the Han army, the Wu army would definitely be unable to defend the city, and could only choose to fight decisively or retreat. And the two armies marching along the bank will inevitably force the Wu army to be overwhelmed and unable to parry.
On the Huainan side, Zhuge Liang is responsible for controlling the 120,000 Dongfu army, under the jurisdiction of generals such as Du Ji, Niu Jin, Ma Su, Jiang Xu, and Li Yan. They will attack at the same time as the Jingzhou side, but the purpose is to contain the enemy forces downstream.
Reuniting with the upper reaches is not a decisive battle with them. Therefore, Chen Chong wrote to Zhuge Liang to arrange for him to recapture most of the cities in the north of the Yangtze River after launching his battle. However, he could postpone the offensive at Ruxuwu, a dangerous strategic point in the north of the Yangtze River, so as not to let the enemy lose.
The army completely retreated to the south of the Yangtze River, which also made it difficult for him to take care of Jingzhou. It would not be too late to launch a general offensive after the situation in Jingzhou was determined.
After both armies achieved their strategic goals and joined forces in Huainan, the final move was to attack and destroy Jianye. At this time, there were no reinforcements outside Jianye and they were forced from three sides. Their lives were hanging by a thread. For the Han army, it was like
A peach that is about to ripen and fall apart. At this time, as long as we cut off the communication between the Wu people and the south on the land road, it will cut off the Wu people's last glimmer of hope, and victory has been won. After all, even if they don't fight with them, the Wu people can't even bring in food and grass.
, if you don’t want to starve to death, you have to face the outcome of failure.
After this plan was finalized at the end of the sixth year of Yanxi, the Prime Minister's Office already knew all the generals above the rank of captain in the Han army, and the whole country was preparing for this. Zhang Fei, the chariot and cavalry general who was training at Heqiao, now
Shi Ye succeeded Ma Chao and led his army to Baidi City. But in June of the seventh year of Yanxi (AD 227), a piece of news reached the Prime Minister's Mansion, disrupting Chen Chong's original plan. It turned out that Wuxi
A great rebellion broke out among the barbarians, which had already affected Jingnan and moved to four counties.
As mentioned before, it is no secret that the Han army is preparing to attack Wu, and the Wu people are also trying every means to strengthen the defense of Jingzhou. However, the national strength in the south of the Yangtze River is not as strong as that in the north. Since Sun Ce changed the Yangzhou system to the military-conferring system, the ministries under his command have been even more plundering.
The common people became popular, and all the aristocratic families hid their houses and hid the people. As a result, there was no great chaos in Jiangdong, but the number of nationalities in the household register decreased year after year, and taxes were in arrears every year. However, this is the foundation of the Sun family's founding of the country and cannot be easily changed. The Yangzhou shogunate also
All we can do is let it go and look for sources elsewhere.
So Sun Quan turned his attention to the Shanyue barbarians in the deep mountains and old forests. The three prefectures of Yangzhou, Jingzhou, and Jiaozhou have complex terrain. In addition to the dense water network, there are more hills and mountains. Many people live here.
Uncivilized strangers. Speaking of which, these people have settled here since Emperor Sejong opened the border. When the Han people moved here, they only opened up the relatively flat plains and rivers. Therefore, after hundreds of years, except for extreme
Except for a few cases, the Han people and the Shengmin people lived on their own and lived in peace and harmony. But for the current Sun Quan shogunate, it is another matter. These mountainous barbarians have a large population. If they can be captured and brought down from the mountains, they can be turned into fields.
Households can greatly alleviate the deficit in the government, and if they are added to the army, these mountain people have lived in the mountains and forests since childhood, and they can be regarded as hardworking and a very good source of troops. Therefore, after Sun Quan came to power, he captured and subdued the barbarians.
It has become the national policy of the Wu people. In the past two years, facing the increasingly aggressive Han army, the Wu people have intensified their efforts to capture the barbarians.
The Wuxi Barbarians who revolted this time are the most well-known of the Southern Barbarians in Jingzhou. The Wuxi Barbarians are also called Wuling Barbarians because there are five streams in Wuling, namely Xiongxi, Xixi, Youxi, Yuanxi, and Chenxi.
It is the residence of the barbarians, so it is called so. As early as when Shizu re-established the Han Dynasty, the Wuxi barbarians were already the dominant force in Jingnan, and then they continued to rise up for two hundred years. Although the imperial court often defeated them, they could not completely defeat them.
The suppression was still during the period when Liu Biao was in power. He implemented benevolent policies, which made the Wuxi barbarians stable for more than ten years. Even after the Wu people captured Jingzhou, they were still afraid of the Wuxi barbarians' power and continued Liu Biao's appeasement policy.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! It was not until March of the seventh year of Yanxi that Lu Xun found out that the Han army had increased its troops by nearly 200,000. For this reason, he felt that his troops were in a quandary and it was difficult to defend against the enemy.
He reached out to the Wuxi barbarians. He sent Zhuge Jin to Chenyang, Wuling, intending to recruit 20,000 people into the army. However, as soon as Zhuge Jin made his request, the various tribes in Wuxi immediately made a fuss and stated that they would never serve the Sun family.
soldiers, and then actually detained Zhuge Jin and asked Lu Xun to deliver the property, and then declared that if they could not handle the request, they would respond to the Northerners. When Lu Xun learned about it, he was furious and immediately sent the charge manager
Five thousand elite soldiers attacked Chenyang, but the Wuxi barbarians were caught off guard and fled, leaving Zhuge Jin behind. Feeling deeply ashamed, he simply elected Samoko as king. Tens of thousands of people started an uprising in Jingnan, and at the same time sent envoys to
The Han army in Nanfu asked for help.
At this time, the guard general Zhang Ji was in charge of Nanfu. After receiving the report, he could not make the decision independently, so he sent the envoy to Luoyang to report the situation to Chen Chong.
Chen Chong was overjoyed when he saw the envoy, and immediately asked in detail about the specific situation of Jingnan: How many people are there in Wuling Man? Can they fight against the Wu army? If they cannot fight the enemy, how long can they last? But the result was disappointing to him.
Although there are many, they lack weapons and armor and cannot face the Wu army head-on. They can only attack their weak points and mobilize the Wu people, but this is not a permanent solution. If the Han army does not come to rescue, let the Wu army go south.
The encirclement and suppression campaign could last until October at most, and Samoko would probably have no choice but to surrender.
This left Chen Chong faced with a choice: Should he sit back and watch the Wuxi Barbarians perish in Jingnan? Or should he plan in advance and make Guan Yu and Zhang Fei go south immediately? After thinking about it, Chen Chong felt that he still could not let go of this opportunity. After all, it was already
It was June. By the time the military order was sent to Guan Yu, he would have completed his preparations. It would probably be late July. By then, the autumn floods had begun to fall, and the Wu army could no longer use large-scale ships on the Han River. However, the small ships prepared by Nanfu
However, they can move freely, and it is also the season when the Han cavalry is most comfortable. Although the Han army is not fully prepared at this time, the Wu people will also face the dilemma of fighting on three sides, and the shortcomings of insufficient troops will be further magnified. Why bother?
Why not?
Therefore, Chen Chong made up his mind to advance the southern expedition. He immediately took the seal, awarded Shamoko the post of General Guiyi, asked the envoy to pass it to Shamoko, and stated that he would quickly send a large army to attack Soochow. Then he issued an order through the imperial court.
The imperial edict appointed Guan Yu as the commander-in-chief of the three armies of the Southern Expedition, the marshal and the governor-general, and the three prefectures of the east, west and south were under his control. General Zhang Fei of the Chariot and Cavalry led the Xifu army out of Baidi, and General Zhang Ji of the army guard led the Nanfu to pass Xiangyang.
Zhuge Liang, the general who conquered the east, led the Dongfu to attack Huainan and officially began the battle to destroy Wu.
After the news came out, everyone in the government and the public was shocked. Although it had long been expected that the Prime Minister would launch a war to destroy Wu, but now that it actually happened, it still made people feel a sense of unreality. Everyone in the court said that it was too hasty? The country was divided.
It took so long that many people could not imagine life after reunification. However, the orders of the Prime Minister's Office were absolute and no one in the court could violate them.
The Wu people had many spies in Luoyang. As soon as Guan Yu rushed back to Fancheng from Hanzhong, the Jianye court had already learned about it. When they heard that the Han army was sending troops south, everyone in Wu Ting could not help but be frightened and nervous. Now that the war had begun, it was also
There is no turning back. This time it is no longer a contest between Wuxi Man and Lu Xun. With the addition of the Han army, the national destiny of the Wu people has also been put on the gambling table. If Lu Xun fails in the battle, it will not only be Jingzhou that will be lost.
That's all.
Because of this, Sun Quan even ordered that the armies of Jiaozhou and Ningzhou be put under the command of Lu Xun. When the situation was urgent, he even sent out a barbarian army he had just received from Danyang, causing Lu Xun to be under the command of Jingzhou.
With more than 120,000 troops, although it was still at a disadvantage compared to the Han army, it was by no means invincible.
In August of the seventh year of Yanxi, the chariot and cavalry general Zhang Fei took the lead in crossing the Jiangguan. An army of 70,000 troops officially entered Jingzhou at a speed of sixty miles a day.