After Sima Yi's report arrived at Luoyang, Emperor Cao Rui immediately attacked the case and praised it.
He also showed it to important ministers who could plan military and national affairs, so that all the previous doubts and noises were melted. As for the last sentence about the need to "prepare for the thief Wu", everyone ignored it.
Because Sima Yi's reminder was a little late, Wei Wu has now started to use weapons again!
But it was not Jiangdong who kicked off the war this time, but Man Chong, the general of the Eastern Conquest who was stationed on the Huaiyou front.
Before the war broke out last year, Man Chong went to Luoyang with the intention of raiding Jiangdong's military garrison in Shu County, Lujiang County. At that time, Cao Rui had already agreed, but in the end he gave up due to the current situation.
As soon as the spring plowing started this year, Manchong sent his senior officials to lead his troops eastward along the river, taking advantage of their unpreparedness to fight and achieve success.
Not only did they destroy many of Wu's military garrisons, but they also burned and slaughtered the crops and cattle used for spring plowing, and captured hundreds of soldiers from the Jiangdong field and returned home.
This was just a small battle between Wei and Wu, but it made Cao Rui very happy.
Without him, the Luoyang Central Army under his command last year was tortured by the traitor Sun Quan's attacks in the east and west, and this time he finally felt bad.
Therefore, he not only issued an edict to commend Man Chong and rewarded the soldiers with money and property, but also gathered the important officials of the court to discuss: Since the thief Wu Bingfeng intended to attack the Jingxiang front, what if Man Chong, who was both offensive and defensive, could not be transferred to Jingyu to supervise the battle?
This proposal was not initiated by Cao Rui.
In the first month of spring when the war in the northwest was about to begin, Luoyang's ministers suggested that Man Chong, who was praised by Cao Rui as "an important weapon in the imperial war", be transferred to Runan County in Yuzhou to take charge of the two-front battle.
Runan County in Yuzhou is connected to the Yingchuan River in the north where the people are allowed to farm. To the south, you can enter Jiangxia County from Yiyang Sanguan. To the east, you can follow the Run River to Shouchun, Yangzhou. This proposal is equivalent to allowing Manchong to take over the Jingxiang War in disguise. A sudden increase in authority!
But no one is worried that Man Chong will do whatever he wants based on his power.
As one of the few important ministers of the Three Dynasties of Wei State, Man Chong had a pure and loyal temperament and never had any love for power.
In his early years, he had imprisoned and tortured Yang Biao, the fourth generation and the three princes, and destroyed dozens of Runan noble families. He had long been no longer friendly to the wealthy families, and a few years ago he resigned from the post of governor of Yangzhou.
Now that he is old, why should we guard against his love of power?
As for his role as General of the Eastern Conquest, he participated in the arrangements of Wang Chang, General of the Southern Conquest.
Regardless of his career history or past achievements, Wang Chang, who had the same official position, had to perform the nephew's gift in front of Man Chong, and there was no need to worry that this would cause dissatisfaction among the Jing and Xiang generals.
However, before the proposal was discussed in court, Cao Rui first wrote to Man Chong and asked what he thought.
Being favored by others is a no-no.
The first was that he refused on the grounds that he was old and lacked energy, making it difficult to coordinate the military affairs between the two places and thus delaying the military affairs.
The other reason is that Huaiyou's defense cannot be relaxed.
The elite navy in the east of the Yangtze River can reach Chaohu in Yangzhou from Wuchang in just a day and night. Don't expect Wu, the traitor, to use all his strength to attack Jingxiang. But if there is a sudden attack from the east and an attack from the west, the lax Huaiyou front may be broken.
Furthermore, he was thinking about the defense of the Jingxiang front, and still insisted on abandoning Shiyang City in Jiangxia and turning Anlu City into a defensive point. He felt that if the advantage of Jiangdong Navy's free coming and going could be eliminated, the force would be forced to Sun Quan comes ashore to fight, whether he participates in the defense of the Jingxiang front or not, there is no need to worry.
At that time, although Cao Rui did not take any advice to destroy Shiyang City, he still praised Man Chong's analysis.
However, this moment is the same as that moment.
The Luoyang area fell into a famine at the beginning of spring. Even if COFCO provided relief, it would be difficult to appease all people in a short period of time. In other words, the Chinese army in Luoyang might not be able to rush to the aid of Jingxiang.
Even if forced to do so, the number of troops rushing to rescue cannot exceed 20,000.
After all, if you force the soldiers to go on an expedition when their families are still worried about food, it is inevitable that the army will lose its fighting spirit.
It may even lead to mutiny due to unstable military morale!
Under such circumstances, even Sima Yi, who was far away in Guanzhong, warned that Jiangdong might raise troops to invade. Cao Rui, out of precautionary considerations, had nothing more to do except for letting Man Chong move to Runan as a backup for the Jingxiang front. Good thoughts.
Moreover, once this idea was raised, all the Gonggun princes who discussed it agreed with one voice.
Man Chong, who received the imperial edict, had no choice but to lead three thousand soldiers and horses to garrison in Ancheng on the south bank of Ru River in Runan County, even though he felt very sad.
Yes, he only supervised three thousand soldiers and horses.
This is the result of his hard arguments - not to divert too many soldiers and horses from Huaiyou, lest the defense be empty and the thief Wu take advantage of it.
As for whether it would be useless to serve as backup for the Jingxiang front with such a small number of troops, Cao Rui granted him the authority to temporarily control the military affairs in Yanzhou. Moreover, his garrison in Runan was equivalent to the disguised general of the Southern General Wang Chang. The authority of Yuzhou was taken over. In this way, when he needed to go to rescue, he could recruit 20,000 county troops at any time.
Cao Rui and Gong Gong felt that with a defense-focused strategy, these troops were enough to keep the battle line of Jingzhou counties intact.
However, a defense that does not maintain offensive power will eventually fall into passivity.
Spring, early April.
Sun Quan, who had received five hundred war horses from the Han Dynasty for free, supervised the invasion as scheduled.
The tactical planning this time is very similar to last year.
As usual, he personally led the army to defend Shiyang City in Jiangxia, and sent Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin to go north against the Mian River to contain the reinforcements of Nanyang and Xiangyang garrison troops.
But Zhu Ran's tribe moved to Dangyang to station.
This move puzzled all the generals of the Wei state, because with Dangyang's position, they could neither force Xiangyang nor block the way to send reinforcements. Why was this so?
But soon, they knew Zhu Ran's intention.
Jiangdong sent troops this time, and there were more than 10,000 people from Pan Jun's tribe.
Pan Jun was a native of Hanshou in Wuling. When Liu Biao took control of Jingzhou, he became famous and respected by the people of the state and county.
The soldiers and horses he supervised first attacked the Danyang soldiers of Rui Xuan, the general of Fenwu Zhonglang, and then fought against the Wuling rebellion and the Wuxi barbarian rebellion, and recruited strong men from them as soldiers, who were especially good at fighting in mountainous areas. This time he came to supervise the troops. , but went west to the Jingshan area between Linju County and Bian County, used his personal prestige to attract the barbarian tribes to return to their righteousness, and migrated to the Wu Kingdom to live.
Naturally, if the barbarian tribes are willing to migrate, they will return to Yi.
If you don't want to, then it will be a war against the traitors who are attached to the Wei Dynasty.
Zhu Ran stationed his troops in Dangyang to protect Pan Jun's troops.
Regarding this, the generals in Wei Jingzhou either said that they would send troops to rescue, or claimed that this was Jiangdong's trick to lure the Wei army out of the city to fight, but everyone had different opinions.
In the end, General Wang Chang of Wei Zhengnan made the final decision.
Since the troops are insufficient, we will not save him for now, and we will make plans after the Emperor Cao Rui arrives with the Luoyang Central Army.
His decision was wise.
Gai Yinman Chong gathered troops and horses, and after entering Jiangxia County from Yiyang Sanguan, Sun Quan abandoned the besieged city and intercepted it; while Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin also stationed outside Anlu City to provide support.
It can be seen from this that Jiangdong's strategy is to compete with Wei for losses.
Sun Quan also learned about the famine in Luoyang and the tiger and leopard cavalry in Hexi.
