Chapter 20: Tiger Roaring and Whispering (Continued)
On September 15th, the moon was full and the lights were brightly lit in the central tent of the Yan army... Of course, as the center of 70,000 troops plus tens of thousands of civilians, it is absolutely impossible for no one to stay here. In fact, day and night
, twelve hours a day, there are people here constantly handling official business, ensuring smooth communication and smooth operation of the Guandu camp, which has always been on the verge of war, not to mention that early tomorrow morning, frontline general Cheng Pu will launch a large-scale offensive.
However, compared with the busyness in the military tent itself, most of the night watch Yi Cong and subordinates felt a little absent-minded. This is because the two military advisors were summoned to the rear tent by Duke Yan at midnight, and they have not been there since.
Come out. Combined with the rumors that General Zhendong went to Pi during the day, these people who have access to a large amount of war information can't help but wonder... Will the war situation, which has been stalemate for almost half a year, take a huge turn?
In the back tent, different from the busyness in the front, except for a few guards, only Gongsun Xun, Jia Xu, and Xun You were here. The three of them were sitting or standing, facing a huge erected map of the Thirteen States of the Han Dynasty.
, has been silent for a long time.
In fact, Gongsun Xun's sudden alertness is very simple - he never believed that Cao Mengde and Liu Xuande were just waiting to be killed!
There are too many people in the world waiting to die, and there are also similar people among the established princes, but Cao Mengde, Liu Xuande, and the previous Yuan Benchu, Dong Zhongying are definitely exceptions!
They are inevitable opponents on Gongsun Xun's path, not stumbling blocks!
Not only that, whether it is his mother's "historical experience" or Gongsun Xun's actual interaction with these four people, they are still clearly reminding this Duke of Yan who is one of the best in the world - Cao Liu
The two of them are more tenacious and courageous than Dong and Yuan. They will definitely fight back!
Therefore, now that the Battle of Xiapi has broken out, no matter what the outcome is, not to mention Liu Bei, who is weak in strength, and Cao Cao, who still has huge military power in his hands, cannot remain indifferent:
If Guan Yu's surprise attack fails and the Yan army on the eastern front suffers heavy losses, it will undoubtedly be the best opportunity for the Central Plains Allied Forces to counterattack since the war began;
And if Guan Yu succeeds in his attack on Xiapi, it means that the defense line of the Central Plains Allied Forces will once again be torn open a big hole, so big that Cao Mengde may not be able to stop it... In this case, he will have to make a desperate move!
Considering that the two sides have only been fighting for half a year, and the army is restless and exhausted, there is no doubt that if it is succeeded, something serious may go wrong.
So the question now is, if Cao Cao makes a desperate move, or launches a counterattack, where will he counterattack?
Is it the main battlefield Guandu and its nearby Bianshui defense line?
Or is it the eastern front that is doomed to have big twists and turns?
Or is it the Yingchuan, Nanyang and other Western Front areas that have been in a certain sit-in-war posture?
From the East China Sea to Hanzhong, the battle line stretches for thousands of miles. It will not be clear where it is for a while, but it must be clarified! If we don't understand it, people will die, but if we understand it, the battle can be ended directly.
"It shouldn't be Qingxu."
I don't know how much time passed, but Gongsun Xun, who was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed, brushed his hand over the corner of the sheepskin map in front of the couch and suddenly spoke.
"My lord is right." Jia Xu immediately affirmed. "In other words, if it is Qing Xu, it is not enough to change the situation, but the plan that is not enough to change the situation, regardless of success or failure, is actually useless."
Xun You also nodded slowly.
This truth is very straightforward...Under such a situation, once Cao Cao launches a surprise attack, it must be with the goal of winning or forcing a truce. Otherwise, it will be meaningless and there is no need to discuss it. And since it is this kind of strategic counterattack
, then its goals must have decisive strategic significance.
Either at the military level or at the political level.
In fact, judging from the fact that Guandu had already prepared a large camp, and from the fact that Cao Cao had decisively abandoned the Pu River and the land north of the Bian River, Cao Sikong on the opposite side should have planned this battle very early. And since it was from
The planning that started at that time made it even more certain that any possible surprise attack by the opponent would be based on winning or drawing.
"It shouldn't be from Nanyang." Since he broke the silence, Gongsun Xun continued to analyze carefully with his eyes closed, or he had to make a judgment. "If we start from Nanyang and go to Guanzhong, the success will be enough to repeat it.
The overall situation, but how can it be successful?"
Both Jia and Xun also nodded.
In other words, the fundamental nature of this battle is naturally Gongsun Xun's southward annexation war, but on the surface it is a slogan of 'welcoming the emperor back to Chang'an'. The slogan put out by Cao Cao is also very direct, that is, 'the emperor ordered us to go west'
"Conquer Ni" and "take back Chang'an"! Even during the early quarrel with Gongsun Xun, Cao Cao saw that war was inevitable. When he raised his troops to sacrifice Qiao Xuan and write a memorial, he claimed that he was passing by during the Western Expedition... That article was written
It is so sincere that Gongsun Xun read it carefully.
However, no matter how sincere he was, no matter how much he shouted slogans, everyone knew that the possibility of Cao Mengde trying to recapture Chang'an, or to recapture Chang'an directly from Nanyang, was extremely low.
the reason is simple.
First of all, Wuguan is too difficult to defeat! Wuguan is actually just one of the checkpoints on the dangerous road from Sanfu to Nanyang Basin. There are similar big and small checkpoints along the way, and there are seven or eight of them. Even if you can win, it is impossible.
Quick victory.
Secondly, the Western Front of the Central Plains Allied Forces, that is, Liu Biao and Lu Bu, originally lacked the desire to launch a counterattack from Nanyang. This was the fundamental reason why the Western Front turned into a sit-down war... Although the former was finally caught by the huge bait of Nanyang
Gouhu has sent troops, but he is still essentially a guard dog. He can send troops to the front line to provide assistance, but if he wants to fight at home, he would be unhappy; and the latter is even more interesting. In the past few months, from Gongsun Xun
After the bloody victory in Guandu that day, Lu Fengxian kept writing letters. Surrender was not necessarily possible, but his desire to avoid war and make peace was clearly revealed.
The four words "sit back and wait for death" are the true mentality of Liu and Lu... What they want is to live in peace and contentment, nothing more.
In fact, Gongsun Xun always had a so-called spare force, which was a group of more than 10,000 Guanxi soldiers led by Xu Rong, which were saved by the two brothers Lu Bu and Liu Biao!
In short, the possibility of these two people who want to control the overall situation of Nanyang to leave their own defense zone to encounter Wuguan is almost negligible.
But that's all... East and West, after cutting off the beginning and the end, Gongsun Xun was no longer completely sure about the rest, from Juyeze to Luhun Pass.
"Sun Ce is brave, very much like his father. If he suddenly leads a large army, regardless of life and death, and rushes directly to Luhun Pass to Hongnong, it is really possible to endanger the pass; and if he rushes directly to Luyuan Pass to Luoyang Jiu
The capital, not to mention the ruins of Luoyang, only the back road to Guandu, is also dangerous... we must be on guard." Gongsun Xun did not look at the map at all, and continued to sit on the couch and analyze.
"In addition, Guandu itself is also a top priority... Although the Guandu company and camp are facing each other, it is impossible to seal the entire perimeter, and Cao Mengde himself is very decisive. In addition, the army is now tired.
If Cao Mengde personally leads his elite troops to attack behind, or if he breaks through the Bian River from one side to the north and cuts off supplies at Guandu, he must be carefully prepared."
"There is also the Bian River and the Baima area. If Cao Cao leads his troops across the Bian River and does not attack Guandu, but instead rushes to attack Baima together with the generals on the eastern front, it will be fatal... Baima Cross is the real destiny of our army.
"
"As for Yu Jin who is stationed at Cangting, it can be considered a way out, but the premise is that Yunchang's attack on Xiapi fails, and Cao Cao wants to take the opportunity to retain Yunchang."
"After a while, there should be no more, right?"
"I think there is no need to worry too much here in the Guandu camp." It was not until Gongsun Xun explained the key points along the line one by one that Xun You, who was standing on the side of the map, spoke calmly.
"How do you say that?" Gongsun Xun's expression did not change.
"First, our army is not exhausted to the limit, and the defense of the camp is not so lax that it can be broken with one blow. Our army even still has the strength to launch an offensive, so how can it be broken in a hurry? Second, our army is huge
The only real key point behind the camp is the north bank of Wuchao Ze, which is a food transport channel that must pass through. However, His Highness has always protected it properly."
The soldiers and horses are exposed outside the camp, and our cavalry can surround and kill them in the wilderness around Wuchaoze in just a moment."
Gongsun Xun looked thoughtful and nodded slowly.
In fact, Gongsun Xun himself did not feel that anything would go wrong in the Guandu camp under his careful care. He just tried a little due to the sensitivity of the word "Wuchao"... In fact, according to his own experience and observation, Guandu is not worried about Cao Cao.
What's the matter of "burning the black nest"? It's better to worry about the other party launching a burning camp.
After all, it is late autumn, the water level is gradually receding, and the grass and trees are turning yellow.
But even so, as early as after the autumn harvest, he had already ordered the entire army to transport sand and pile up partitions to block the camp to prevent fire.
"Where is Bianshui?" Now that he had received Xun You's approval, Gongsun Xun breathed a sigh of relief and continued to ask seriously. "What do you think Gongda thinks?"
"The troops in Bianshui are sparse and they are mainly infantry, so of course they have to guard against it." Xun You replied seriously. "But does Ming Gong really not believe that Lou Sizhou still has three generals: Gao, Xu, and Zhang?"
Gongsun Xun finally smiled slightly... How could he not trust these people?
In other words, it was precisely because of his extreme trust in the loyalty and ability of these four people that Gongsun Xun was able to trust them to handle such a large area of jurisdiction - Lou Gui was in charge of the general, Xu Huang was in charge of the direct defense of Bianshui, and Gao Shun was in charge of guarding Bianshui.
Zhang He went to control the junction of Baima, the most important point on the entire south bank of the Yellow River after Guandu.
And if there is a change, with the strength of the Guandu camp's cavalry, they can quickly support it.
In fact, the Bianshui Defense Zone on the east side of Guandu has always been the general offensive direction in Gongsun Xun's original plan... If Shen, Guan, and Guo had not suddenly launched the Battle of Xiapi on the eastern front, then Cheng Yu's Yingzhou soldiers and Taishi
After Ci returned from recruiting troops in Liaodong, he should have invested in this area together and then made a frontal breakthrough in order to flank Guandu!
Even if Lu Su and Guandu are integrated and find it difficult to get off, they can still turn to the southeast as a breakthrough point, join up with Guan Yu, defeat Xiahou Dun, who has insufficient troops, and reversely surround Le Jin, Li Jin, Zhang Chao, Gao Gan and other eastern front generals.
, or force them back.
At this thought, Gongsun Xun's heart moved slightly, as if he had caught something, but he couldn't believe it for a moment.
"Lord." At this moment, Jia Xu also took the initiative to speak slowly. "I believe that whether it is from the perspective of Cao's army or from the perspective of our army's key points, there are always several key points... So even if it is
When making judgments, it is always difficult to be completely prepared. In this case, why not take the initiative or lure the snake out of the hole? We don’t expect to win a hasty victory, but we can always test out the truth or the truth, right?"
Gongsun Xun came back to his senses, thought for a moment, and realized that this was the best way, so he nodded heavily and made up his mind:
"Immediately send an order for Xu Rong to come east from Hongnong and go out to Zhiyuan Pass to attack Sun Ce's stronghold of Yangzhai and Yangguan! When Ming Zhengpu launches a frontal attack, have Zhang Liao and Cheng Lian go around Guandu from Wuchao
On the west side, go down to Chenliu City to intimidate Lu Zijing! Then during the battle tomorrow, I will personally go to the front line to supervise the battle... and see if Cao Mengde is here!"
Jia and Xun decided to obey the order together.
"And," a moment later, when Jia Xu was about to go to the front tent to deliver the order, Gongsun Xun suddenly stopped him on the couch. "Wen He, let that Deng Dang come to see me..."
Xun You's expression did not change, his steps did not stop, he had already walked out of the back tent, but Jia Xu understood and simply left after nodding slightly.
After a while, Deng Dang entered the back tent, stayed for a while, and then left.
After a sleepless night, Gongsun Xun could not go to the front line early the next morning, but he received an urgent message from Xu Huang first!
It turned out that Gao Gan, the general of Cao's army stationed on the eastern front who was stationed in Dingtao, suddenly made some changes a few days ago. It seemed that he sent a full two thousand troops to the direction of Changyi behind him. This was an ordinary support move, and Dingtao was a large city in the Central Plains.
, it is not enough to become a fighter. But Xu Gongming is Xu Gongming after all. He is recognized as a serious and responsible person who does not care about hard work, so he still took the initiative to send a large number of sentry riders, dozens of miles deep into the hinterland of Cao Jun to investigate, and then successfully intercepted it.
I met a messenger from Cao Jun and learned news about the world!
The messenger was sent by Xiahou Dun and headed for Guandu. It clearly stated that not only Xiapi had been captured by Guan Yunchang, but also General Zhou Yu, the easternmost commander of the Central Plains Allied Forces in Xuzhou Military, was intercepted by Guo Fengxiao and Guan Yunchang on the way to break out of the encirclement.
Live, die on the spot!
Xuzhou has changed hands!
The matter was so important that Xu Huang did not dare to neglect and directly sent the captured messenger and the letter to Guandu at night.
After Gongsun Xun quickly summoned the messenger and his entourage, he almost immediately concluded the authenticity of this group of people... They were a group of young officials and officers who were so young that they had just been crowned.
The leader was called Cao Zhen, and he was Cao Cao's adopted son, named Zidan. After the war, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry organization ceased to exist, and he, along with the remnants of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, became a confidential military intelligence messenger for various places. Because of his resistance, he was already sentry by Xu Huang's troops on the spot.
They joined forces to kill him, but his head was sent to him.
In addition, there were also Wu Zhi, Wu Jizhong, a confidential writing official under Xiahou Dun, who was a native of Dingtao; and Zhu Shuo and Zhu Yancai, a confidential writing official in Cao Cao's headquarters, who was born in Qiao County, Peiguo.
Among them, Zhu Shuo had some integrity and was unwilling to speak, but Wu Zhi revealed almost all the military information he knew, including the actual situation on the Eastern Front, and verified everything he knew, which made Zhu Shuo hate him.
The canthus of the eye is about to split.
Gongsun Xun didn't know the future achievements of the two skinny men in front of him, and he didn't even recognize them at all, but he did know who the chubby first-level master Cao Zhen and Cao Zidan was! So he realized almost instantly that the news was true.
Yes, Guan Yu had already captured Pi, and Zhou Gong Jinqi was dead after just one move. Now Xiahou Dun has rushed to Pengcheng's aid and has not returned yet!
However, regarding Cao Cao's movements, this group of people was heading from Xiahoudun to Guandu, but they seemed to be unaware of it.
Gongsun Xun suppressed the shock in his heart and ignored the excitement of many officers in the big tent, and did not notice that Jiang Gan, who had just returned to the team, had a face as golden as paper. Instead, he hesitated for a moment at the two people in front of him... He was about to put one person back.
, and clearly told Cao Mengde that he already knew everything about the situation in Xiapi, and asked the other party to stop covering up!
This is also meant to force Cao Cao!
"Your Highness, you might as well release Zhu Shuo..." Xun You suddenly stepped forward to remind. "Cao Mengde believes in this person even more!"
Gongsun Xun nodded slowly, but in the midst of everyone's confusion, he summoned Qian Zhao from the rear camp to stay behind to take charge of the general affairs of the Chinese army. He ordered the thinner Zhu Shuo to be taken along, and immediately set off for the front line.
By the way, the Guandu camp has actually been in a state of war. The offensive organized by Cheng Pu seems to be powerful, but it can be regarded as daily life in Guandu. Otherwise, there would not be frequent changes of hands in the frontline camps... Basically, both sides
Under the cover of multiple defense lines, no human life will be maliciously consumed. Once one party successfully breaks through, the raided will often retreat to the next reserve defense line to avoid excessive casualties in hand-to-hand combat, and the former will not touch the defenders again.
A tight new line of defense.
Similar battles between the two sides have broken out no less than six times. The Yan army advanced and retreated, gaining a slight upper hand. However, it is worth mentioning that as the war lasted and the mountains, tunnels, and artillery carts gradually took shape, the watchtowers and fences also gradually took shape.
The more it is repaired, the stronger it becomes, and this struggle gradually becomes more strenuous.
However, back to the present, this time I saw that the two armies were well prepared. When Guandu was about to break out into a critical battle that everyone had been mentally prepared for, with Yan Gong Sun Xun personally sitting on the front line, the atmosphere seemed a little tense and weird...
Especially yesterday, Gongsun Xun sent several women's clothes to Cao Cao's camp, and today Gongsun Xun suddenly sent an envoy to return a prisoner of war before the war.
The battle broke out suddenly, and the artillery carts of each battalion, which had no time to install axles, took the lead in attacking by virtue of their numerical advantage. Under Cheng Demou's personal pressure, countless Hebei soldiers poured out from each battalion like a tide. Before the artillery carts had completely stopped,
They tried to rush forward to seize the front camp of Cao's army whose fence was smashed, and directly caught the Confederate army by surprise... However, Cao's army seemed to have received the order, and also did not wait for the opposite artillery car to complete its projection, and then swarmed out from behind the mountain.
At the same time, their smaller number of artillery vehicles no longer pursued any maneuver advantages, and directly launched a counterattack towards the Yan Army's artillery positions without any regard!
Of course this is understandable, because Gongsun Xun, who was sitting on the highest and safest mountain, saw with his own eyes Cao Ren's banner with the word Cao appearing on the front line!
But a moment later, Gongsun Xun's sudden realization gradually became suspicious as Cao's army refused to retreat and more and more generals' flags appeared behind the front line of Cao's camp... The two yellow flags clearly represented Huang Zhong and Huang Gai, as well as Wenpin, Li Tong, Chen Wu and Xu Sheng, there is no need to even distinguish them.
In the end, Gongsun Xun even saw the flag of Ren Jun, the general in the field under Cao Cao's command! No way, this surname of Ren is really the only one in the Southern Army.
The absurd thing is that Ren Jun's duty is to be the rear camp assistant responsible for the civilians to supplement the auxiliary troops. In other words, his troops are basically the weakest second-line recruits under Cao Cao!
However, this doubt soon disappeared as Cao Cao himself appeared on the mountain directly opposite... In a daze, Gongsun Xun had only one thought left - Cao Mengde looked pretty in women's clothes!
No wonder my men are working so hard!
———————I am the dividing line among women’s clothing men——————
"Taizu challenged Cao Cao several times, but Cao Cao could not get out, so he sent people to gather dozens of women's decorations and sent artillery carts to Cao Cao's camp to mock Cao Cao. Call for a decisive battle. When Shu Fu came out, Taizu gathered his troops again the next day to attack. Cao Cao originally wanted to stand firm and respond, but suddenly Zhu Shuo arrived from the north. Zhu Shuo was a confidant of the local people, and he exchanged documents with Xuzhou military aircraft for the purpose. What Xu Huang had obtained. Now that he had come north, Cao Cao knew that Taizu had gained Xuzhou's true and false possessions, so he sent out all his troops to fight. They dressed up in women's clothes and climbed to the Tushan Mountain to supervise them. Cao's army was ashamed and furious, with 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers. Moving forward, our army was slightly disadvantaged. The left and right were in a hurry, and Taizu looked at Cao Cao from a distance for a long time. Fang laughed, but he looked at Cao Cao and said, "Meng De is as poor as a donkey!"" - "Shishuo Xinyu", Weird Chapter
