Leaving Jingzhou from Yizhou, the mouth of the Xiling Gorge above Yiling (later known as Nanjinguan, also known as the mouth of the Gorge during the Three Kingdoms period) is the gateway to Jingzhou. The large river waterway between this mouth of the Gorge and Yong'an (Kuimen), the gateway to Yizhou,
There are still Wu County and Zigui County guarding Wu Gorge, which are also the outposts of Jingzhou's gateway.
But no matter how the Wu army deployed in these two counties, it could not prevent the Han army from leaving Bashu.
The Han army located in the upper reaches of the river went out of Bashu, but it was "easy to advance and difficult to retreat" along the river, while the Wu army went upstream "difficult to advance and easy to retreat".
In summer and autumn, when the river water surges and the flow speed accelerates, no matter how elite the Wu army's navy is, they dare not enter the Wu Gorge. For example, the Han army only needs to throw dried sharp wood into the river to make the Wu warships unable to return.
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The Battle of Yiling in the past also proved that the Wu army's attempts to intercept Wu County and Zigui County were in vain.
Therefore, Lu Xun, who was given full authority to supervise the war in Jingzhou, learned the previous lesson and also asked Bu Zhao to station troops at the mouth of the gorge. After the Han army invaded, he would then move his troops to Yiling to take control.
As for Wu County and Zigui County~~
Leave some troops and horses and some supporting warships as a precaution.
But the accident still happened.
Wu County, which is adjacent to Kuimen, has not seen any Han troops coming out yet, but Zigui County behind Wu County was conquered by the Han army first.
In other words, this is also the biggest reason why the Prime Minister changed his previous military style and let Hu Ji supervise Liu Lin and Jiang Shu to attack Fangling City.
Because in the prime minister's plan, it is not important whether Fangling City can be captured, but after Hu Ji and others arrive at Fangling County, they must go straight south from here to attack Zigui County!
This road was the march route chosen by Mengda when he was sent by the late emperor Liu Bei to assist Liu Feng in conquering the three eastern counties when he was the governor of Yidu and stationed in Zigui: he forcibly crossed Wushan and Dabashan (Shennongjia).
This is the road opened by the Ba people.
Long before King Wu conquered Zhou, the three eastern counties were the territory of the Yong Kingdom, while the Wushan area belonged to the Ba Kingdom.
These two ancient kingdoms both participated in King Wu's war against Zhou, and they have been constantly fighting with each other, thus opening up the passage from Zigui to Fangling County. [Note 1]
Today, Jiangdong is not prepared for this road.
It’s not surprising when you think about it.
Dongsan County and Zigui County are both in Jiangdong's hands, so why bother preparing for a rugged and untraversable road without any enemy?
Therefore, it is not surprising that Liu Lin and Jiang Shu, who had captured Fengling County, went south along the way and captured Zigui County.
Zigui County was defeated, and Wu County, which was sandwiched by the Han army, could not be defended.
This allowed Zheng Pu, Guan Xing and others, who had been preparing for the attack, to go straight down the river to the mouth of the Xiling Gorge without any hindrance. Moreover, the troops were advancing so quickly that as the governor of Xiling, the infantry had only just received the news that Zigui had been lost.
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But for Bu Zhe, it doesn't matter whether he gets the news sooner or later.
The defenses at the mouth of the gorge have always been very tight. No matter how elite the Han army was, they could not break through before Lu Xun's army arrived at Yiling.
However, in order to buy some time for Zheng Pu and other troops, the prime minister spent a lot of time and ordered his soldiers to attack nearly a thousand miles. How could it be a useless effort?
The Han army did not attack the mouth of the gorge!
After Zheng Pu and Guan Xing went downstream to the mouth of the gorge, they took advantage of the time when the Wu army had no time to snipe the fleet, abandoned the ship and climbed up the north bank with ropes and other objects, and escaped into the vast Daba Mountain.
This move made Bu Zhi, who was ordering the soldiers to fight, immediately stunned.
Although the Han army was good at crossing mountains and ridges, when marching and fighting, they needed a steady supply of food and baggage from the rear. How did they get supplies when they entered Daba Mountain?
It is impossible to attack Linju County from Daba Mountain, or to attack Bian County from Jingshan Mountain, or to attack Xiangyang from the north!
Not to mention that these places were already in dire straits due to decades of war. After taking over, Jiangdong also strengthened the walls and cleared the country, and was ready to fight!
How could they hoard grain and supplies for the Han army to plunder?
He couldn't understand it.
But after he conveyed the general information to Jiangling City, he ordered Lu Xun to directly change the marching route.
Originally, Lu Xun, who was equally vigorous, personally led 5,000 soldiers in front, and ordered his generals to lead the army and transport food and supplies behind, and rushed to Yiling.
But as soon as he heard the report from the messenger, he immediately ordered the entire army to go north to form counties.
He also sent a messenger to Wuchang Palace and asked Sun Quan, who was stationed at the rear, to have the navy immediately transfer the grain and baggage to Xiangyang City.
Yes, at this time he had roughly guessed the Han army's intentions.
The Han army had no intention of competing with Wu on both sides of the river, but intended to capture Dongsanjun and Xiangyang City.
In fact, that's exactly what happened.
When the Prime Minister formulated the plan to conquer Wu last year, he had no intention of entering Jingnan or attacking Jiangling City.
Without him, there is little chance of winning.
The first reason is that the mistakes of the Battle of Yiling may be repeated.
In the previous battle of Yiling, the troops and horses of the late emperor Liu Bei and Lu Xun were roughly equal. However, due to geographical factors, the late emperor also sent Huang Quan to set up defenses on the north bank to protect the mouth of the gorge and ensure the return route of the army.
It's just fate that plays tricks on people.
At that time, the late emperor's troops were defeated first, which cut off Huang Quan's troops from returning.
This is also the biggest reason that prompted the late emperor to say "If you fail Huang Quan, Quan will not fail Guye".
Now, when Zheng Pu and Guan Xing set out from Kuimen, their military strength was inferior to that of Jiangdong. Even if they defeated Bu Zhao and captured the mouth of the gorge, they would not have enough troops to protect their return route as they continued down the river to Yiling.
Furthermore, Jingnan today is not what it was then.
During the Battle of Yiling, there were many people in the counties in Jingnan who longed for the kindness of the late emperor and raised troops to respond.
For example, the late emperor sent Ma Liang to Wuling County to recruit Wuxi barbarians as another group of troops to assist in the attack on Jingnan.
But now that Jingnan has returned to Jiangdong for many years, it has already launched many rebellions on its own initiative, and it has long since lost the strength to respond to the Han army.
Another reason is the elite Jiangdong navy.
The Han Dynasty has been committed to the Northern Expedition in these years, and has little spare time to form a navy and build warships. It is also unable to compete with Jiangdong on the river. There is no need to use its shortcomings to attack the other's strong points.
Finally, it is the priority of strategy.
Returning the old capital and restoring Guanzhong is the top priority of the Han Dynasty!
This attack on Wu was not only to calm the anger of the government and the public, but also to inflict heavy damage on the Han and Wei wars in Guanzhong without wanting Jiangdong to join in.
And after occupying the three eastern counties, Wei will have to heavily guard Ziwu Valley, Wuguan and Nanyang Wancheng with heavy troops!
This is considered to force them to divide their troops.
In this way, it is easy to understand why Zheng Pu and Guan Xing drove their troops into Daba Mountain.
It was simply to seize the county first, occupy the end of Bashan North Road from Dongsan County out of Jingzhou, curb the reinforcements from Jiangdong rushing to aid Dongsan County, and allow the Prime Minister's Department to successfully capture Shangyong City.
Zheng Pu and others entered Daba Mountain and then transferred to Jingshan Mountain. How to replenish food and ensure that they occupied the county before Wu Jun~~
