Under the pressure of a two-front battle, Wei State was actually more eager to fight decisively than Wu State.
This is the reason why Manchong gave up the Li Jiangshui defense line.
This was also the reason why he still defended Yangyuan with inferior troops after the Wei State had destroyed the canal from Shaopi to Huaikou.
This was all to make the Wu army feel that Shouchun City was difficult to break, so he announced that he would defeat the reinforcements outside the city first and make the garrison soldiers in the city lose their determination to defend. Otherwise, he could completely transfer to Anfeng County to garrison and rely on the city to defend the city so that Wei soldiers would be less likely to go into battle. Some casualties.
Yes, he is taking risks.
Don't hesitate to use your body as bait to trap yourself in death.
Yangyuan is bordered by the Huai River to the north and Shaopi to the south. If we set up a camp and guard it in this place, we will be defeated by the front and rear, and we will have no way to escape.
This approach was actually opposed when he presented it to Cao Rui in Luoyang.
Last year, when Cao Rui told him about Xia Houxuan's strategy of using false Jingxiang to lure Wu into Huainan, he also included the loss of Gaoping City and Sima Yi's defensive tactics in Guanzhong. At the end, Yubi added: "Guanzhong is in danger." , There is no time to delay in destroying the thief Wu Ke. "If you have good advice, please feel free to write it and I will follow it."
Therefore, Man Chong no longer insisted on his previous advice that "there will be an opportunity to defeat Wu in a few years."
In order to make up for the shortcomings of the Huainan soldiers who were not ready to counterattack, he only decided on the tactic of using his own body as bait to make Jiangdong come to besiege.
At that time, Cao Rui couldn't bear the danger and wrote a letter to persuade him.
He returned to the table to argue, saying: "Old minister, I don't have much time left. If I can defeat Wu's thieves, why would I regret my death?"
Cao Rui was so moved that he stopped trying to persuade him and everything went according to his plan.
For example, three thousand tiger and leopard cavalry and more than 10,000 Luoyang troops were first sent into Guanzhong via Wuguan, passed through Jingyu and Hezhou, followed the Huaihe River, and hid themselves in Shouchun City in a way that concealed the truth from the enemy.
Yes, the Luoyang Chinese Army has already arrived at the Huainan front!
And all the ministries of Wu State are still silently calculating the time when Cao Rui in Luoyang will get the news and gather troops to rush for reinforcements; they are still hoping to use the time difference to defeat the Manchu tribe first...
Little did they know, Wei's bloodthirsty blade had long been unsheathed.
However, it is said that after Wu Jun decided on his strategy, he advanced in three directions.
As a check, Zhuge Ke and Chen Biao made no progress along the way.
Ding Feng's troops, who were on guard for them, encountered two thousand Wei cavalry originally stationed in the north of Huai River before they arrived at Anfengjin, so the two sides began to chase and fight.
However, the Wei cavalry had no intention of engaging in battle and had been harassing them from the side. Ding Feng, who had the duty of being the eyes and ears of the army, did not dare to ride in and pursue them deeply. For a while, no one could do anything to anyone.
In other words, these two cavalry forces are temporarily unable to cope with the war.
After Zhuge Ke and Chen Biao arrived at Anfengjin, they looked at the other side of the river and saw the Wei army's flags standing in the distance and the barriers. They had already prepared to prevent the Wu army from forcing a crossing. They were rewarded with a heavy reward and recruited more than a hundred soldiers who were well versed in the nature of water to swim. However, before these people could swim to the other side, they were spotted by patrol boats patrolling the water and shot dead in the water with crossbows. Only about 20 people survived and returned.
In the same way, Zhuge Ke and Chen Biao gave up the thought of forceful crossing.
Following Quan Cong's orders, he set up camp and guarded the ferry to block the Wei reinforcements from Huaibei.
And Quan Cong's progress along the way was even less smooth.
Relying on the convenience of Jiangdong Navy's boats to transport troops, he arrived at Yangyuan earlier than Lu Xun's troops, but he did not launch an attack immediately.
Because there is also a river on the west side of Yangyuan - the Xianshui River (today's Peihe River) that winds northward from the Dabie Mountains. It is also the valley where the Wei State dug a canal to connect Shaipi and enter the Huaihe River. [Note 1]
Although the canal between Shaopi and Xianshui has been destroyed now, Xianshui still serves as a defense barrier for Yangyuan.
In order to force the crossing, Quan Cong prepared for two days. He dismantled the wooden city where he was camped and several small boats as materials for building pontoon bridges. He built six pontoon bridges on the water at night and forced the crossing at night to attack.
The vanguard was naturally the six thousand men who dared to die under the supervision of Ren Du and Zhang Zhen.
However, although these two men were brave and unafraid of death, and the six thousand men who dared to die did not flinch even in the face of Wei's locust-like crossbow arrows, but after a night of violent attack, nearly a thousand corpses were eaten by fish and turtles.
The Wei army's camp was not touched.
Naturally, Quan Cong was not discouraged.
At least tonight the Wu army has broken through nearly half of the defensive barriers on the other side of the Xian River.
If we attack for one day regardless of casualties, we can allow the entire army to cross the Xianshui River and attack the Wei army's camp.
Yes, in order not to give the Wei army a chance to repair the barriers and replace the guards, he chose to attack day and night without stopping.
It's just that sometimes, heroic bravery alone can't make a difference.
Man Chong soon let him know why he was called "the most important weapon against the thief Wu" by Cao Rui of Luoyang.
All the barriers set up by the Wei army along the coast were completely destroyed. After the vanguard daredevils occupied the other side, something unexpected happened before they could even cheer. Suddenly, more than ten walking boats rushed towards the Xishui River, with lightning speed.
The force of the cover-up crashed into the pontoon bridge, and many Wei troops armed with big axes rushed out to destroy the pontoon bridge; while the Wei army camp also roared with thunderous drums, and countless soldiers rushed out from the camp.
It turned out that Man Chong did not expect the barriers along the coast to be able to withstand the Wu army for long, so he made preparations early to cut off the pontoon bridge and surround and kill the Wu army's vanguard across the river.
Quan Cong was unprepared for this.
At this time, it was too late to order all the soldiers to rush across the other side.
The pontoon bridge is not wide to begin with, and such arrangement will only cause the soldiers to push each other, fall into the water, or be trampled on.
Fortunately, he built six floating bridges this time.
In such a hurry, the soldiers of the Wei State who came in a walking boat could not be completely destroyed, whether they were chopped with swords, axes or oil and set on fire. This also gave the pioneers who had crossed the Xianshui River a chance to turn back and escape.
But it was inevitable that they had to pay the price of losing nearly two thousand soldiers again.
Counting the casualties in the forced crossing attack, more than 4,000 of the six thousand men who dared to die were killed!
Even the general Zhang Zhen was killed...
Quan Cong was furious about this.
But Sun Tzu said that "the energy of youth is sharp, the energy of the day is inert, and the energy of evening returns." After being defeated for a while, he had to order his soldiers to rest for a few days before fighting.
Three days later, he learned his lesson.
Many soldiers were sent along the coast to guard against the Wei boats that entered the Huaikou River. They also added three pontoon bridges and personally led the troops to force the crossing for the advancers.
This time, he was successful.
The Wei army had already retreated into the camp.
Because on the other side of Yangyuan, Lu Xun sent the vanguard Liuzan tribe, who had already arrived with his army and began to attack Wei Guoying stronghold.
The same tactics were adopted regardless of casualties.
It was ordered by Lu Xun before leaving.
Both Lu Xun and Quan Cong hoped to capture Man Chong's camp with their superior strength before Luoyang's Chinese army arrived.
No matter how bad it is, we will cripple the Manchong Department!
When the Wu army moved to fight fiercely with the Luoyang Central Army, the Manchong troops were unable to come out to respond.
[Note 1: The Xianshui River originates from the Dabie Mountains, flows through Xixian County, and flows northward from Lu'an into the Huaihe River. "Hanshu Geography": "Xianshan River in Xixian County, Lujiang River originates from the Xianshui River."]
