In the war between Wei and Wu when they allied to attack the Han Dynasty, Jiangdong's deployment was not so much an offensive as it was a defense.
For example, Lu Xun used his position as the governor to take responsibility for the defeat of the previous war and returned to Wudi in advance to supervise the recuperation of the basic areas in Jiangdong; while Quan Cong took his headquarters to Xiling Gorge to guard Yizhou and leave Jingzhou together with Bu Zhi.
The gate of Jiangling City; even Sun Quan personally took charge of Jiangling City.
Only Zhu Ran led more than 10,000 people to the banks of Zhushui (Nanhe) in Bashan North Road.
Perhaps this arrangement is not an exception.
Among the various tribes in Jiangdong, the one who had no time to rest after a major defeat but was still able to fight was none other than Zhu Ran, who had been guarding the front line for a long time; only Zhu Ran could make his soldiers willing to rush to the battlefield again.
However, he had no intention of crossing the river this time.
Even the pontoon bridge was not built, and they were facing the Han army's camp across the water. They were well versed in the art of war, "Become invincible first, and wait for the enemy to win."
But everyone knows that Jiangdong has no intention of fighting the Han army again.
The troops were sent simply to respond to Wei's offensive.
The Han army, which was well aware of this, also had no intention of losing each other again with Jiangdong.
It's not that I don't want to, but I really can't.
It is inevitable that the division veterans will be exhausted, and the biggest factor that has always restricted the Han army - the problem of insufficient food and fodder has struck again.
Although the grain supplied to the three eastern counties for the war was transported from Shu and Bazhong to Hanzhong County from the ancient Micang Road, and then eastward along the Mian River, the distance and difficulty of transportation were less than those for the war in Guanzhong. However, the war to defeat Wu was never carried out.
It started at the beginning of autumn last year and has lasted for more than half a year, with manpower and material resources being pushed to the limit.
In addition, spring plowing had just passed and the lean season was about to begin. The prime minister did not want to waste the limited grain in unnecessary wars.
Yes, optional.
For today's Han Dynasty, the strategic purpose of prompting Jiangdong's return of troops and Wei's attack has been achieved. They only need to wait for the main force of Wei's Yongliang and Luoyang's Chinese army to launch a decisive battle in Guanzhong. Why continue to fight fiercely with Jiangdong?
Therefore, the Prime Minister's arrangements for the Guanxing Ministry were tacitly in line with Jiangdong's wishes.
Instead, he asked Guan Xing to lead more than 8,000 soldiers to camp on the west bank of Zhushui. The rest of the soldiers began to work hard at the valley bottom in the Shangyong-Fangling area long before the Tang Dynasty surrendered.
But I don’t dare to take it lightly when it comes to the Qinling South Road.
The prime minister left more than a thousand soldiers to garrison in Shangyong City, and led two thousand soldiers to the west city to protect the transportation of grain and fodder from the three eastern counties of Hanzhong. The remaining 15,000 soldiers were transferred to Zheng Pu to guard the Dushui River Valley.
This time Wei's invading troops were large.
After Wei Zhengnan General Wang Chang and Hu Zhibu entered Wudang County to garrison, they gradually gathered 30,000 soldiers in more than a month.
The Xiahouba tribe, which was originally in the Ziwu Valley, left more than 5,000 people from the Puzhong tribe to continue at the entrance of the south valley, and led more than 10,000 troops out of Wuguan to come to Wudang County.
And according to the news from Xizuo, Xiahou Xian, who was stationed in Huainan, also attracted more than 8,000 people and was on his way to Wancheng.
Because Cao Rui will personally come to Wancheng to take charge.
With almost all of Luoyang's Chinese army garrisoned in Guanzhong, he had no choice but to dispatch some troops from Huainan to escort him.
Although Xiahou Xian's troops will not participate in the war, with the arrival of his troops, Wang Chang and Hu Zhi no longer have to worry about anything, and they use all their troops to block the river valley. And they have been guarding the Jingxiang front all year round.
Wang Chang and Hu Zhi had never fought against the Han Dynasty, and the officers and soldiers under their supervision were not as demoralized as the Yongliang tribes. Encouraged by Cao Rui personally coming to sit in the rear, many low-ranking generals such as Dubo Sima felt that this battle was terrible.
The war that brought them to prominence.
Without him, the advantages and disadvantages of Han and Wei would be too disparate.
There is no need to have many troops.
Wei's army was nearly three times the size of the Han army, and it was still recharging its strength, while the Han army's veterans were tired.
As for the baggage, grain, fodder and other supplies, Wei did not need to worry. With supplies from the farms in Nanyang County and Henan and Yanzhou, it would not be a problem for them to delay the war for a year and a half.
In fact, this is what Wang Chang and Hu Zhi planned.
As those who are qualified to know the reason why Cao Rui deigned to form an alliance with Jiangdong and initiate this war, they also know their responsibilities.
In this battle, Cao Rui did not expect them to defeat the Han army, capture or capture many soldiers, etc., but he must contain Zhuge Liang, the prime minister who rebelled against Shu, and Zheng Pu, who was "a major problem for Wei", in the three eastern counties.
The longer the better.
This will make it easier for Sima Yi, the governor of Yongliang, to find opportunities to recapture Guanzhong and Longdong.
Therefore, they discussed it privately and adopted very conservative tactics.
When the supervisors came to Dushui River Valley to attack Zheng Pu's camp, they did not immediately order the soldiers to attack fiercely. Instead, they transferred all the thunder chariots, big yellow crossbows and other equipment from the Jingxiang front, intending to use the equipment to attack the enemy to delay one or two Let’s talk about it later.
Such tactics played right into the Han army's ambitions.
In the strategy decided by the Prime Minister and Zheng Pu, they originally wanted to prolong the war in the three eastern counties and make the Wei State feel that there was an opportunity in Guanzhong.
However, this move also played into the Han army's weakness of insufficient food supplies and exhausted veterans.
It also made Zheng Pu passive.
Originally, he thought that the Wei army, which had an absolute advantage, would rush to attack day and night as soon as the troops arrived. He would also find an opportunity to attack in his eagerness for quick success.
He did not expect that this opportunity to attack would kill many Wei soldiers, nor did he hope for a decisive battle.
Instead, he only wanted to win a small victory for a while, so that the morale of the Wei army was low. He only had to keep more than 10,000 men to guard the water valley to ensure that the camp in the water-blocked valley was not lost, and let other soldiers take turns to go back to rest.
In this way, problems such as fatigue of the division's veterans and food shortages can be easily solved.
However, Wang Chang and Hu Zhi's abnormal behavior made him passively continue to confront them, worrying about the dwindling food supply.
The food in his camp can only last three months, and it will not even survive this year's autumn harvest.
This is the limit of Bashu's supply and the limit that the Prime Minister can give him.
Because the Guanxing Ministry was guarding the banks of the Zhushui River, the prime minister concluded that it was impossible to attack Jiangdong and asked Guanxing to give the soldiers quota rations based on the garrison status, not according to wartime.
In other words, the Han Dynasty, which has been engaged in the Northern Expedition for more than ten years, has reached an unsustainable level in terms of manpower and material resources.
This is also the reason why the Han army, knowing that they were running out of food and supplies, could not abandon the useless Dongsan County and return to Hanzhong to rest and recuperate. If they could not lure Sima Yi, the governor of Wei and Yongliang, to come out for a decisive battle, then the Han army would "return to the old capital." "My long-cherished wish will be put on hold for the time being. It will only be possible to realize it after the national strength is restored after ten or eight years of rest and recuperation."
In fact, Zheng Pu had thought about taking the initiative.
However, seeing that the Wei army was heavily guarded and that we were at a military disadvantage, we gave up the unrealistic idea.
Could it be that the current plan is to rely on Sima Yi to send troops within three months?
Zheng Pu looked at the Wei military camp in the distance, feeling helpless.
