Hearing Guo Tuyan's words, Xu You couldn't help but stand up and retort: "We also stationed nearly 20,000 troops in Weiqiao. If the Qingzhou Army wants to capture Weiqiao, it will have to send at least 40,000 to 50,000 troops. If their main force is transferred
Going south, how could we not receive any news? What’s more, if the main force goes south, aren’t they afraid that we will divide our troops and go south to support them, and then attack their home base?”
Guo Tu immediately responded: "I and other villagers at Zhao Jianzhong in the east of Xiabao saw many Qingzhou troops moving south, and grain and grass were also transported south. I also heard that Zang Ba, Zhang Liao Dianwei and others had led an army of 40,000. Now,
Almost all of them have arrived at Weiqiao, and there will be news soon."
"Then you mean that the Liu Beijun who is confronting us here at Jieqiao is just an empty shell?"
"Exactly, now only Liu Bei personally leads 30,000 cavalry and Gao Shun's trapped troops. Zhang Fei's 10,000 cavalry are here. If we send troops immediately, our strength will be 100,000 to 45,000. The advantage is ours!"
"That's how you conclude?"
"good!"
"If they really attack Weiqiao, how to solve the lengthy supply line of grain and grass?"
"Don't forget that Qingyuan Guan, Tao Yuancheng and Wei County have all fallen into the hands of the Qingzhou Army. They can definitely send food and grass to various cities, right?"
"The danger of Wei Bridge is not much worse than that of Jie Bridge. If Liu Bei dares to attack, he must also cooperate with Guan Yu in Luoyang. Then why does the official document from Yecheng say that Guan Yu is still sending troops northward in Anyang area and has no intention of marching eastward.
?”
"I have said several times that Liu Bei's attack on Weiqiao was a surprise. Didn't Dian Wei, Zhang Liao and other troops secretly go south to cooperate with Zang Ba's attack? If Guan Yu is involved, the plan will be exposed soon."
Xu You sneered: "What a joke, since they are operating in secret, how could they let you know?"
"I guessed it myself by seeing Liu Beijun's actions at the Xiabao Jianzhong Dongzhao and other township pavilions. If you don't believe it, then just do whatever you want."
"Then have you ever thought about whether this is false news deliberately created by the Qingzhou Army?"
"How did Liu Bei learn that I had escaped? Deliberately falsely letting me see the news? Do you think that if I hadn't witnessed it with my own eyes, those hidden spies and scouts would have been able to deduce the movements of the Qingzhou Army based on these subtle details?"
"I still don't believe what you said. It's just nonsense. They have only captured Wei County now, so why do they dare to attack Weiqiao?"
Xu You and Guo Tu were in tit-for-tat, and they disagreed with each other's views.
Zang Ba went south to attack Qingyuan Guan, Tao Yuancheng, Wei County and other places. It was expected by the Jizhou advisers. The news came back a few days ago. There were not many defenders in Wei County. After Zang Ba laid siege for two days, the city was defended.
The soldiers opened the city and surrendered.
However, the east of the Jie Bridge was originally abandoned by Yuan Shao. His strategy was to form a circular defense circle, shorten the front line, and defend along the Yecheng-Qingshui line.
The current defense deployment in Jizhou is as follows.
In order to deal with the enemies flanked by three sides, Yuan Shao deployed a large number of troops in the three counties of Wei, Julu and Zhao, and began a three-way blocking war.
Guan Yu went north to attack Yecheng in Hanoi. Yuan Shao left about 60,000 troops to defend various cities. He personally led 100,000 horses to march eastward. In addition, there were 20,000 people at Weiqiao, and there were 20,000 troops along Qingshui.
There are a large number of beacon towers and sentry observation points to prevent Liu Bei from secretly building pontoon bridges to sneak across the river from other places.
This is the total force of Yuan Shao in Wei County, 180,000 troops. But in the north of Hejian, Zhongshan, Changshan State, Bohai State and other places, there is really no way. The strategic depth is too long. If you want to defend the troops of Xian Yufu, Yan Rou, Kebi Neng and others.
, at least 70,000 to 80,000 people are needed. Yuan Shao does not have that many troops now.
Hanoi fought several battles with Wei County and lost many troops. Yan Liang and Wen Chou were killed, Zhang He surrendered, Jizhou lost all its elite cavalry, and six to seventy thousand infantry. Although Yuan Shao was not at the end of his rope, he was clearly injured.
, the advantage in military strength suddenly deteriorated.
On the other hand, Luoyang and Qingzhou became more and more courageous as they fought. Although they also lost almost 20,000 to 30,000 horses, after replenishment, they fought more and more, especially in Luoyang, which originally had only 60,000 people, but now it has become an army of 100,000.
Under this situation, Yuan Shao has realized that his original advantage has gradually turned into a disadvantage, so his strategy is to abandon all the northern counties and deploy defenses along the line in places like Julu of Zhao State.
Because these two counties have many water systems and have many medium-sized rivers, there are more than ten rivers recorded in historical records alone, and there is also a mainland lake comparable to Dongting Lake.
The main force was placed in the area between Jieqiao and Yecheng, and tens of thousands of reserves were recruited. All the remaining troops were placed in the north.
It was hoped that the complex terrain of Zhao State's Julu and other places would be used to block the tens of thousands of mighty cavalry from the north. Even if it could not resist, it would delay for a certain period of time so that Yuan Shao could repel the invading Qingzhou Army and Luoyang Army.
Yuan Shao believed that if he could overcome this difficulty, it would be a matter of time for Jizhou to make a comeback with Jizhou's strength. He only needed to recuperate for a few more years, and he could once again raise an army of two to three hundred thousand to fight Liu Bei to the death.
It may not be possible to completely defeat Liu Bei again.
Therefore, if you look at the map of this decisive battle, you will see that Yuan Shao responded to the enemy in a defensive posture, constricting his strategy to Wei Commandery, Zhao State, and Julu.
In the defense center of Wei County, Qingshui was used as the defense line, and its main force was deployed to the west of Qinghe River, relying on large rivers to block the attack.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to this strategy, which results in the large area of land east and south of Qinghe having to be surrendered.
Now is the time of spring floods, and the water has surged, making it almost impossible to build a pontoon bridge.
The Qingzhou Army could only cross the river through the stone bridge.
Both Jie Bridge and Weiqiao have been guarded by Yuan Shao. From an overall strategic perspective, this arrangement is still very good.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! But now Guo Tu told Yuan Shao that Liu Bei had no intention of fighting Yuan Shao at the boundary bridge, but chose to abandon the shorter supply line and start from hundreds of
Attacking Weiqiao in the south from inside and outside, this tactic of abandoning the near in favor of the far is really incredible.
But what Guo Tu said was not completely unreasonable, because everyone felt that Liu Bei would not attack from Weiqiao, so he attacked from Weiqiao, and he was caught off guard.
If that was really the case, Yuan Shao felt that maybe he should think about whether he really wanted to send reinforcements to Weiqiao.
"Ming Gong, I think the most urgent task is to send some reinforcements south to support Weiqiao."
Guo Tu was no longer too lazy to argue with Xu You, but said to Yuan Shao: "Liu Bei organized a force of 40,000 troops to launch a surprise attack on Weiqiao. Weiqiao is negligent in defense. Maybe they will take advantage of it."
"It's a little too early to send people there now."
Yuan Shao pondered for a moment, he still felt that Guo Tu's words might be a bit unfounded, but after thinking about it, it seemed that it was safe to do so, so he added: "But the public principles are not unreasonable. In this way, I will immediately send a few
The team of scouts hastened to Weiqiao and told them to be careful. What do you think?"
"It would be fine if we just send a few teams of scouts to give a warning. There is nothing wrong with being careful."
Liu Hui nodded.
There is nothing wrong with sending people over to reprimand and inspect, but as for sending troops over, forget it.
Anyway, he didn't believe that Liu Bei would really take action against Weiqiao.
Guo Tuli advised: "Ming Gong, everything must be prepared with both hands. Even if we don't send reinforcements, we should prepare for the attack on Wei Bridge. In the past two days, we can reorganize our troops and horses while waiting for news from Wei Bridge.
"
"Why?"
"If it is determined that Wei Bridge is being attacked, and it is the main force of Liu Bei's army, then we can be sure that Liu Bei's troops east of the boundary bridge are greatly reduced, and Ming Gong can send some troops south to defend Wei Bridge, and at the same time storm the boundary bridge
, these can go hand in hand without contradicting each other.”
"What if there is no news from Weiqiao?"
Yuan Shao asked back.
Guo Tudao said: "Now is the battle. Even if there is no news from Weiqiao, just think of it as a precaution against an attack by Liu Bei's army. This is not a bad thing."
"good."
Yuan Shao nodded: "That's it."
.......
.......
On March 24, the sky was cloudless and when it got dark, Zang Ba officially launched an attack on Weiqiao.
It is now late March. It has been more than a month since Liu Bei officially launched the offensive in mid-February and captured Ganling. After more than ten days of heavy rain, in early March, Liu Bei waited for grain and grass to arrive one after another and set out from Ganling to approach Jieqiao.
.
During this period of more than a month, the Qingzhou Army's progress was relatively smooth. After Zhang Liao killed Gao Lan in the formation east of the boundary bridge and defeated Yuan Shao's garrison east of the boundary bridge, it took more than ten days.
It was Liu Bei who was building the camp, and at the same time, the rear was constantly transporting grain and grass to the front.
When the camp was almost built, and the food and grass had been transported to Zhao Jianzhong and other rural pavilions in the east of Xiabao, they immediately launched a strategy of attacking from the east and attacking from the west. Taishi Ci and Huang Zhong's navy also went upstream and had already arrived in Puyang.
Landing began at the Yellow River bank in the north.
The two of them joined Guan Yu's Luoyang army in Fanyang and other places. Guan Yu also couldn't abandon the near and far away to attack Weiqiao. He had already occupied the Neihuang and Fanyang areas. It would be easy to cross the river to attack Yecheng. There was no need to force a detour.
Make a big circle to Wei County.
Therefore, Huang Zhong and Tai Shici only met Guan Yu once in Fanyang. It was not until Zang Ba captured Wei County that he led his navy more than a hundred miles north and arrived at the city of Wei County.
When the two forces merged, Zang Ba's force was about 15,000, and Huang Zhong and Taishi Ci's navy was close to 20,000, almost 35,000, which could barely be regarded as an army of 40,000. The three then attacked Zhang Liao and Dian.
Under the banner of Wei and Zang Ba, they pretended to be the main force of the Qingzhou Army and began to assemble on the south bank of Weiqiao.
After the sky completely darkened, countless Qingzhou troops gathered on the south bank of Weiqiao. Because Qingzhou is close to the sea, fish and shrimps are caught for soldiers to use as food and to supplement vitamin A. Therefore, there are very few patients with night blindness, so all the soldiers will not be left without torches.
I've always been blind.
The reason for launching the attack at night was to see if Weiqiao could be captured directly. The whole show had to be done. The strategic goal of attacking from the east and attacking from the west was to attract the main force of Yuan's army to go south for rescue, and to induce Yuan's army to take the initiative to attack Liu Bei's main force at Jieqiao.
But it would naturally be a better thing if Zang Ba, Huang Zhong, Tai Shici and others captured Weiqiao in a direct battle, and then went north to form a pincer attack from the southeast with the main force of Liu Bei's army against Yuan's army west of the boundary bridge.
At midnight, Zang Ba, Tai Shici and Huang Zhong each led an assault team of 200 people, totaling 600 people, in the dark and arrived near the bridgehead on the south bank of Weiqiao.
Wei Bridge, like the famous large bridges of the Han Dynasty such as Ba Bridge, Wei Bridge and Jie Bridge, is a stone arch bridge structure with a wide bridge deck and a length of about thirty to forty feet. The Jizhou Army built two high oars in the center of the bridge.
There are archers keeping a lookout above, and there are also a large number of horses, caltrops, lime and other tools for guarding the bridge.
A small group of Jizhou troops was also stationed at the bridgehead on the south bank. They built some sentries, trenches, ditches and other obstacles. There were about fifty people in total, almost a brigade. Everyone wore bone whistles, horns and other items.
As long as there is enemy situation, a signal will be sent at any time.
But Zang Ba had been here to observe in person for a few days. He used a telescope to observe the enemy's situation on a high slope about 300 meters away from the south bank of Weiqiao. He found that the Jizhou garrison on the Weiqiao side was actually very lax on guard, and did not imagine that
It's so strict.
Logically speaking, there will be a large number of sentries and patrol guards on the left and right sides of the bridge. However, the Jizhou garrison only arranged one brigade to be stationed at the bridge. There was no patrol or vigilance. Every evening, except for a few soldiers changing guard, they squatted at the bridge to watch.
Apart from the scenery, most of the other soldiers were either sleeping in the camp at the bridge or going to the river to fetch water, as if they had nothing to do.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The Yuan army in the center of the bridge is similar. Perhaps they feel that the Qingzhou army is confronting Yuan Shao on the boundary bridge, and it is impossible to fight on the Weiqiao side. The center of the bridge is used for
The archers on the guarded watchtower neglect their duties every night. After nightfall, they either chat with the people on the bridge next to them, or climb down from the tower to do other things.
There were a total of four archers on the two watchtowers, and they wasted most of their time every day. The most outrageous time was when Zang Ba saw with his own eyes that the group of people on the bridge actually encouraged the soldiers at the head of the bridge to run under the bridge and touch the river.
At that time, there were only a few people on the entire bridge who could guard the bridge.
However, if you think about it carefully, it is understandable that the guards at Weiqiao are lax. First, the main force of Yuan Jun and Liu Bei are now at the boundary bridge. Everyone thinks that the two sides are at war with each other at the boundary bridge at this moment, and there is a high probability that there will be no war at Weiqiao.
If the two stare at one place for a long time, they may be very alert at first, but after a long time, after fatigue, it is easy to relax their vigilance.
Just like the proverb goes, it takes a thousand days to be a thief, but a thousand days to guard against a thief.
Therefore it is normal for this situation to occur.
Although the news of Zang Ba's capture of Wei County had already spread, the defenders of Weiqiao were on tight alert for the first few days. As time went by, there was no movement from Zang Ba's side, so naturally they no longer maintained a high alert state.
Six hundred people hid at the foot of a hilly slope about a hundred feet away from the bridge head in the south of the bridge. Torches were lit on an iron frame at the bridge head, illuminating all the surrounding defenders.
The three of them, along with about twenty elite archers, crawled forward and slowly climbed to a position less than fifty feet away from the bridge head, preparing to launch an attack.