The imperial troops took Zhang Xiu under his wing and defeated Wenpin, sweeping the whole of Nanyang.
After the Battle of Xiaochang'anju, Chen Mu reorganized his troops and horses, and continued southward a few days later, aiming directly at Xiangyang.
The city of Xiangyang is located on the south bank of the Han River. At this time, the whole of Xiangyang was very scared because there were very few soldiers and horses in the city.
As mentioned before, although Liu Biao's total military strength was as many as 120,000, the navy accounted for almost half, and the army only had about 50,000 to 60,000, which was not too much.
Among them, the navy is divided into Xiangyang Navy, Jiangxia Navy and Yangtze River Navy. Jiangxia Navy accounts for most of the navy, with a number of 40,000 troops, while Xiangyang Navy has a very small number of troops, less than 10,000.
The army still needs to stay in various places. At least 10,000 to 20,000 of the 50,000 to 60,000 troops need to be dispersed at various passes, such as Zigui in Wu County, Shangyong Fanling and other roads where Yizhou attacks Jingzhou.
Therefore, the actual number of troops and horses available for Xiangyang City was less than 50,000. In addition to the 20,000 soldiers led by Wenpin who went north, after Zhang Xian's rebellion in Changsha, Liu Biao sent his nephew Zhang Yun to Jiangling to quell the rebellion, and he also brought 20,000 horses there.
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As a result, the entire city of Xiangyang currently only has a few thousand land troops and 7,000 to 8,000 naval divisions, with a total force of only more than 10,000 people. It can be said that Xiangyang currently has a very empty military force and a serious lack of defensive power.
Under this situation, Liu Biao was anxious and angry, and quickly called the Kuai brothers, Cai Mao and others to come to discuss. After everyone discussed, they finally decided on a plan and could only call Huang Zu for reinforcements.
Although this means that Jingzhou will completely lose its spying on Yangzhou, but now that it doesn't even have its hometown anymore, don't think about winning Longwang Shu, save yourself first.
So a few days ago, after learning about Wenpin's defeat, Liu Biao had already sent people to Jiangxia to find Huang Zu and ordered him to go north along the Han River back to Xiangyang.
Huang Zu was also in trouble after receiving this order.
The difficulty is not whether to go back, but how to go back.
How wide is the Yangtze River? The widest point can reach seven or eight kilometers, and the narrowest point is only about one mile.
The Jingzhou Navy can freely operate large-scale ships on the Yangtze River, no matter how many tons they have.
But what about Hanshui?
The widest point is only over 300 meters, the narrowest point is only 80 meters, and the water depth is far less than that of the Yangtze River.
Jiangxia Navy's large-scale ships are not the small thousand-person-class small-scale ships built by Chen Mu in Luoyang, but large-scale ships that can carry more than 3,000 people.
At that time, Chen Mu's Guanshui Qishui plus the water flow of the three rivers Huanshui could only send three small building boats carrying a thousand people to sail on the river. The water depth was enough, but the river was not spacious enough, so the three small building boats were already
is the limit.
According to the records of the Jiangxia Navy, Liu Biao managed the navy and Meng rushed to fight the ships, and the number was in the thousands.
This means that there are thousands of ships. If we want these thousands of ships to go north on a large scale, the width of the Han River is simply not enough.
Unless Huang Zu gave up the super-large building ships and only used small and medium-sized troop carriers such as stern warships to row upstream, and they were divided into batches, they could not go all at once.
After much hesitation, Huang Zu had no choice but to leave 10,000 of his 40,000-strong army to defend Shaxian. The rest of the navy abandoned the large ships and used small and medium-sized troop transport ships to go north in batches.
The troop transport ships of the Han Dynasty were so small that they could only board twenty to thirty troops at a time.
The medium-sized ships are fighting ships, which can transport three to four hundred troops.
However, when going upstream, and still manually rowing, carrying too many troops will cause the ship to sail slowly, so each ship has to reduce the number of people by half to reduce the burden and speed up the sailing.
As a result, small troop carriers can only transport about ten people at a time, while medium-sized troop carriers can transport more than a hundred people.
If you want to transport 30,000 people back at once, you will need more than a thousand small ships and more than a hundred medium-sized ships. It is a very huge project.
More importantly, the Han River is not wide enough and too many ships will cause congestion.
Therefore, Huang Zu was forced to divide into three batches, using small and medium-sized troop transport ships, with 10,000 people each time, and planned to send all 30,000 people back to Xiangyang within five days.
As a result, the Han River has been quite spectacular in the past few days. Every day, there are hundreds of small boats such as boarding boats, sailing boats, and barges, as well as dozens of stern fighting ships moving northward in mighty force.
Thousands of sailboats competed on the river, and dense black spots filled the entire river surface. It was simply a realm of vitality and all things flourishing.
The worst thing is that occasionally there are congestion incidents due to too many ships and the river is too narrow. There are even several ship collisions, shipwrecks and deaths. More than ten soldiers were lost without fighting, which made Jiangxia
The navy was in a state of turmoil.
In this chaotic situation, the Jiangxia navy stumbling and stumbling, finally returned to Xiangyang with 30,000 troops.
At this time, Chen Mu had also organized his troops and horses, and nearly 60,000 troops marched south.
Xiangyang City is bounded by Han River to the north and Xian Mountain to the south. A small river is called Xiangshui. Because it is located on the north bank of Xiangshui River, it is called Xiangyang.
In later generations, Xiangyang City was divided into south bank and north bank. The south bank was Xiangcheng District, and the north bank was Fancheng District.
But in the Han Dynasty, there was not only Fancheng in the north of the Yangtze River, but also Dengcheng. It was located about ten miles northwest of Fancheng and about twenty miles away from the Han River. It was surrounded by lush vegetation and countless fields. Historically, Zhuge Liang cultivated
The place is under the jurisdiction of Deng County.
Previously, Liu Biao sent Wenpin to station in Deng County to defend Jiangbei, but under the current situation, he could only retreat into Xiangyang and Fancheng and bring back all the main forces.
However, Fancheng was closer to Xiangyang, and it drew water from the Qinghe River and surrounded the entire city. Under the protection of a moat that was about sixty-seven meters long and wide, Liu Biao sent troops to garrison Fancheng for defense.
Because even if Fancheng is captured, the people in the city can still take a boat from Qinghe River to Yuliangzhou on the other side.
If there was no moat, he would never dare to send people to defend it.
Now, except for Suixian County, almost all of Nanyang has fallen into the hands of the imperial court, and Suixian County is also in danger.
Although Suixian County is located between the Dahongshan Mountains and the Tongbaishan Mountains, which is a strategic location, it is not a valley. The two mountains are one to two hundred kilometers apart, so it is not a dangerous pass at all.
Therefore, unless heavy troops are deployed in Suixian, the terrain of Suixian alone will not be enough to withstand the imperial army.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! However, Xiangyang and Fancheng are now in danger, let alone Suixian County. Therefore, as long as Chen Mu is willing, it will be a matter of time to seize Suixian County and threaten Jiangxia.
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However, the terrain of Xiangyang is still very powerful. It is bounded by the Dahongshan Mountains to the east and the Qinling Mountains to the west. The terrain in the middle is very narrow, and the Han River passes through it. The city lies in the middle. If you want to go south to attack Jingzhou, you must capture Xiangyang.
But after looking at the terrain, we know that this place is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is a natural danger. No wonder the Mongols have been fighting in Xiangyang for six years and it is indeed impregnable.
Chen Mu had been to Xiangyang in his last life. At that time, Xiangyang was a prosperous and lively scene with many high-rise buildings. However, Xiangyang at this time is a vibrant world, surrounded by forests, towering mountains, and endless rivers, which are different from the cities of later generations.
Iron Jungle has no resemblance to it.
After the imperial army captured Deng County, Chen Mu personally led his troops to the north bank of the Han River to observe the terrain.
He was accompanied by Zhao Yun, Wu Anguo, Wen Su, Feng Kai, Zhang Xiu, Jia Xu, Zhuge Liang, Chen Qun, Yao Bo, Kong Jian, Huang Qi and others. There was a large sandbank where he was observing the terrain.
Chen Mu knew that this place was called Moon Bay Park in later generations, and there were three islands opposite it, namely Peach Blossom Island, Changfengzhou, and Yaozizhou.
To the east of this place, across the river from the ancient city of Xiangyang, is Fancheng.
Fancheng is about a few kilometers away from their current location, and they can only vaguely see the city head, but the ancient city of Xiangyang on the other side of the river is clearly visible.
If you use a telescope to look at it, you can see that the city is about three feet high, which is nearly seven meters, and the city wall stretches for more than one or two kilometers.
This is only the length of the northern part of the city. If the total length of the city were added up, it would be more than four or five kilometers.
When Chen Mu visited the ancient city of Xiangyang in later generations, the city was more than eight meters high and 7.6 kilometers long. This was because of expansion during the Ming Dynasty.
It was noon at this time, the waves of the Han River were flowing, countless boats were cruising back and forth on the river, water birds were flying, and they landed on a sandbar in the distance. There were clouds and mist in the island, and the mountains were looming.
Farther away, there is a large undulating green mountain forest located behind Xiangyang City, shrouding Xiangyang like a mountain behind a school.
It is Xian Mountain in the south of Xiangyang City. It is a steep mountain. It is said that many Jingzhou people live in seclusion there.
I do know a bit about the market outlook for Xiangyang Chen Mu. He attended a prestigious domestic school in his early years and used to travel around during the winter and summer vacations before studying abroad for graduate school.
His hometown is in central Hunan, Hunan, and now belongs to Changsha County among the four counties in Jingnan, so he went to Hubei first based on the principle of staying close to him.
He has been to Wudang Mountain, Shennongjia, Xiangyang City, and Wolong Town in Longzhong Mountain where Zhuge Liang once lived in seclusion.
But when Chen Mu visited Zhuge Liang's former residence, he discovered a problem.
That is, the geographical location of Longzhong Mountain is thirteen kilometers west of Xiangyang, but it is located on the south bank of the Han River and is under the rule of Xiangyang.
According to the record in Zhuge Liang's "Shishi Biao", "I am a commoner and work hard in Nanyang", which means that he should be farming in Nanyang County.
But Xiangyang at that time belonged to the territory of Nanjun of Jingzhou. If he was really in Longzhong Mountain, he should write "working in Nanjun" instead of "working in Nanyang".
Zhuge Liang would definitely not make this mistake, so what went wrong?
Some people in later generations said that Longzhong Mountain to the west of Xiangyang City did not belong to Xiangyang, but to Deng County across the Hanshui River.
In other words, Deng County in Nanyang County also has an enclave across the river to the west of Xiangyang City in Nan County.
This statement is obviously outrageous and has no historical basis at all.
Because of this problem, a suspicious case of robbing the former residence of a celebrity occurred in Nanyang and Xiangyang cities in later generations.
Wollongong in Nanyang City and Longzhong Mountain in Xiangyang City both claimed that they were Zhuge Liang's secluded place, and they made a big fuss over it.
After Chen Mu arrived in Deng County, he was curious about this mysterious case in history, so he sent someone to inquire about it. Only then did he learn that the evidence that Xiangyang locals practiced chiseling more than a hundred years later was correct, and that Longzhong was indeed located on the west side of Xiangyang City.
Ten miles.
But what he did not record clearly is that Longzhong Mountain was not called Longzhong Mountain at that time, but Atou Mountain. To the north of Atou Mountain, there was a place called Longzhongju, which was later known as the Wolong Town area, and not only this place
It’s called Longzhongju, and the other side of the river is also called Longzhongju.
These two villages are in a strip of water and have exactly the same names. They are both from the same village. The local villagers live on both sides of the Han River and make a living by farming and fishing. They are located opposite the Han River in Wolong Town and Xinglong Village east of Niushou Town.
In this area, there is an island on the river, where many fishermen live.
Zhuge Liang lived in Jiangbei, so according to the administrative division, it does fall within the territory of Dengcheng, Nanyang.
Although it is only separated by a river from Wolong Town and Longzhong Mountain in later generations, because the north and south banks of the Han River here are called Longzhong, and the geographical location is twenty miles west of Xiangyang City, so the name Twenty Miles West of Xiangyang City appeared.
, the situation in Longzhong, Deng County, Nanyang.
So Zhuge Liang was right, and so was Xi Chi Chi. What was wrong was that the geographical records of the Han Dynasty were not clear enough and could not fully express the specific location of the villages.
Solving this ancient mystery case can be regarded as satisfying a little of Chen Mu's curiosity.
However, Chen Mu just asked the locals casually, without any special meaning. He personally led the army to the bank of the Han River, mainly to check the enemy's situation, observe the terrain and the enemy's deployment and distribution.
After observing the geography of Xiangyang City through a telescope for a long time, he found that except for the distribution of Xianshan, Yuliangzhou and the islands in the middle of the river, which were no different from those of later generations, the other places were completely different.
This is normal. Xiangyang City in later generations had an urban area of 20,000 kilometers. At this time, there were deep mountains and old forests everywhere, and there were a large number of jackals, tigers and leopards in the surrounding mountains. It was completely a primitive forest.
But in later generations, this place has become a smooth road, full of traffic, high-rise buildings, and bridges across the river.
One is the primitive world and the other is modern society. Naturally, they are worlds apart.
More importantly, Xiangyang City at this time was less than one ten thousandth of the size of later generations, with less than 2 square kilometers. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that it was expanded to 2.5 square kilometers.
Therefore, looking from the outside alone, except for roughly measuring the height of the city with the naked eye and some towers, crossbows and other defensive facilities built on the rammed earth structure tower, nothing can be seen.
Just looking at these unique conditions, it really makes people feel that this city is difficult to capture by ordinary means.
Not to mention anything else, the width of the moat outside the city is only 30 feet away, almost more than 70 meters. In the Song Dynasty, the width would be even longer, reaching more than 180 meters.
Although the current moat is not as exaggerated as that of the Song Dynasty, its width is no different from a medium-sized river. Without a large fleet, it would be difficult to just cross the moat to the bottom of Xiangyang City.
Just seeing this moat, Chen Mu gave up the idea of attacking by force.
At the same time, it also made him envious of Cao Cao.
Historically, in order to seize Jingzhou, Cao Cao trained his navy in an artificial lake in Xuanwu Pond.
But his navy was just like that. After all, it was a thing that was trained in an artificial lake. What could it be trained to do?
If Liu Cong resisted, he would probably be able to defeat Cao Cao with the help of the Jingzhou Navy. Since the navy couldn't find him, he wouldn't lose his boss's family fortune.
As a result, after being persuaded by Cai Mao and others, they immediately left the city and surrendered, allowing Cao Cao to get an advantage for nothing, which is really enviable.
Seeing that there was no chance of attacking Xiangyang City by force, Chen Mu turned his attention to it again.
Although Xiangyang is difficult to attack from the front, the same cannot be said for the side. There is a large area of land to the east of the city, south of Yuliangzhou and east of Xiangyang City.
Interestingly, this is the area where Fengchu Pang Tong lived, which was called Nanbaisha at this time. Later Xiangyang City built Fengchu Avenue here, and named the Sixth Han River Bridge connecting this place with Fancheng on the other side Fengchu Bridge.
In the center of Xiangyang City, above Taohua Island, one of the three continents in the center of the river, there is another bridge called Wolong Bridge. It was originally called the Third Hanjiang Bridge. The roads to the north and south of the bridge are called Wolong Avenue.
With this naming method, Xiangyang really understood the concept of Crouching Dragon and Phoenix.
Chen Mu has a good memory. Although he has only been to Xiangyang once, he can barely recognize that Nanbaisha is the suburb of the northeastern corner of Xiangcheng District in later generations.
To the north of this suburb and southeast of Fancheng, there is a huge island.
This island is Yuliangzhou. When I first came to Xiangyang, I heard that the famous scholar Pang Degong and Mr. Shui Jing Sima Hui lived on Yuliangzhou.
There are more than ten islands on the Han River, and Yuliangzhou is the largest. More importantly, it is connected to Nanbaisha in the northeast of Xiangyang, and you can reach outside Xiangyang City through Yuliangzhou.
And not only Yuliangzhou, there are also Changshou Island, Zhongxinzhou and other islands in the upper reaches of the Han River. Their area is not much worse than that of Yuliangzhou, and they are very close to both sides of the river. Through these islands, one can also cross the river and enter Atou Mountain to reach the future generations.
area around Wolong Town, and then attack Xiangyang from the west.
Or even be more radical and bypass Fancheng directly, cross the Qinghe River and the Feishui River, seize Caiyang County, which is later the county-level city of Zaoyang City in Xiangyang District, and then go south to Lumen Mountain and cross the Han River to the west of Lumen Mountain.
Entering the Oumiao Town area in later generations.
Because the Han River here is very narrow, there are even a large number of islands connected in the middle of the river. There are reefs and some small islands almost a few meters apart. Large ships cannot pass at all. Let alone rowing across the river, there is no problem in swimming.
So there is definitely no problem in reaching the outside of Xiangyang City, but how to cross the moat that is 20 to 30 feet wide is a big problem.