Chapter 208: Going north

The sky is misty, like a large umbrella covered with tightly, blocking blood and storm in its bag.

This summer of the eighth year of Jian'an may be destined to be spent in the war. With the sound of horse hooves like thunder, the foundation of the Han Dynasty was shaking under repeated impacts.

The war in Jiangdong stopped a little, and the sword light in Nanyang rose again.

On the official road from Xinye to Wancheng, an army with a population of more than 30,000 was advancing northward. Their queues were neat and uniform, with firm and powerful steps. The shiny swords and guns and distinctive armor all told the enemy that this was an army that was well-trained and inadequate.

"The whole army is sent to the command, our goal is to go north and north!" Under the banner of the Central Army, Zhou Yu's tall and long body is like a tall locust tree, full of confidence and sunshine.

At the critical moment of the Eastern Front, Zhou Yu, who had just wiped out Liu Bei's rebellion, had no time to celebrate. He was anxious and naturally would not stand by. After a lot of thought, he decided to take a risk to attack. However, bypassing the enemy in Wancheng, he would inevitably suffer a blow from behind. Once the war ahead is unfavorable, the troops heading north will not even find a way out. One of the reasons why Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition troops failed was that they ignored Cao Cao's surprise attack from the rear. Therefore, when Zhou Yu made the decision to go north, you can imagine the pressure he was facing.

At the mobilization meeting before the expedition two days ago, Zhou Yu only said one sentence: "No matter how difficult it is, it cannot be an excuse for us to shrink back. In order to alleviate the pressure on the battlefield on the Eastern Front, I decided to bypass Wancheng and attack Xudu in a surprise way!"

In fact, it’s no longer necessary that he said anything more. Taishi Ci, Huang Zhong and others have been sharpening their knives for a long time.

The news that the Northern Expedition failed and more than 13,000 Jiangdong children died on the battlefield made every soldier who went to the expedition breathe a sigh of relief. They secretly swear in their hearts to kill more Cao soldiers and avenge the dead soldiers.

Behind him, the sound of horse hooves was broken, and a burly and sturdy general with a halberd approached like an iron tower. Before the person could approach, the voice had arrived first: "Governor, who will deal with Cao Ren from Wancheng!"

The general who came to Zhou Yu was Taishi Ci. After several tests of blood and fire, Taishi Ci was no longer the Taishi Ci who was impulsive and irritable to compete for his achievements in Shiyin Mountain. Although he does not have the outstanding commanding ability as Zhou Yu, his keen sense on the battlefield is much stronger.

"Even if it's a detour, you must be on guard against Cao Ren." This was Taishi Ci's first reaction after receiving the order to go north.

Zhou Yu smiled slightly. This was the first time he had smiled in more than ten days. Taishi Ci's maturity made Zhou Yu very happy. He knew that he had a good helper around him.

Zhou Yu looked back and smiled and said, "Cao Zixiao is a stinky and hard stone in front of us. Ziyi has the confidence to touch it!"

"Of course." Taishici's face was fearless, his voice was clear and loud.

"Okay. Ziyi, you lead the headquarters to stay in the back team and take a stance to attack Wancheng. If Cao Ren dares to leave the city, he will beat me up." Zhou Yu said.

Taishici said: "I disdain to the governor and said that Cao Ren was not going to come out because he was lucky. If he dared to leave the city, his grandfather's ellipse would be the first to pick his head."

Hearing Taishi Ci's bold statement, Zhou Yu stroked the sword and said, "Well, our army's purpose is to support and support the Huainan battlefield and lure Cao Cao's main force back to Xudu. As long as this goal is achieved, our army will immediately retreat back to Jingbei. Therefore, this northward advance I want Han Sheng to make a feint attack on Xudu."

Huang Zhong's eight thousand elite soldiers, using this force that is good at shooting and long-distance marching as the vanguard, Zhou Yu's intention was to consider the safety of retreat in addition to attacking.

Once the task of pulling Cao Cao's main force back west is completed, Huang Zhong's troops will retreat quickly. At this time, resisting the iron cavalry of Cao's troops is a difficult task for Taishi Ci's troops who nakedly like melee combat. On the contrary, crossbows can exert the advantage of long-distance killing as a weapon against cavalry.

When the Han Dynasty attacked the north by Wu of Han, Li Ling led 5,000 Danyang elite troops into the north of the Moon and encountered the main force of the Huns. Li Ling fought and retreated, and fired thousands of arrows and killed countless enemies. If the arrows were not embarrassed at the last moment, if they were not defeated and captured, there would naturally be no more eternal doubts about "Li Ling surrendering the enemy", and there would not be any painful experience of "Sima being cut"!

In Gao Chong's army, although the soldiers recruited by the rebuilt Taishi Ci team are still mainly Danyang villagers in Yuzhang, Jingxian and Yinling, these places have been peaceful and peaceful for many years under Gao Chong's governance, and the people's brave habits have also been much less powerful, so their combat effectiveness is even worse than before.

On the contrary, Huang Zhong's troops have always been relatively complete. Most of the lower-level generals and schoolmen were brought by Huang Zhong from Changsha, Lingling and Guiyang County. They have rich combat experience. Many soldiers in this team came from Yueyi and were good at shooting. They are the best candidates who are qualified and capable of inheriting the heroic troops of the Hanwu Northern Expedition.

"Will Cao Cao believe us when we act like this?" Xu Sheng, who had been guarding Zhou Yu, spoke out.

Although Xu Sheng's troops were also infantrymen, they were not familiar with fighting in the northern part of Pengze and Jiangxia areas with dense water networks for a long time. Therefore, his mission was mainly to serve as a reserve force and support the other two armies.

Zhou Yu was accustomed to the horse's belly. He was accustomed to the boating tactics and was still a little unfamiliar with the horse's back. While controlling the reins of the horse, he said, "Even if Cao Cao is suspicious, he can't resist the people around him talking in turn. Besides, Xu Du was staying today. If we were welcomed by us, Cao Cao's hat as the prime minister of Han would be hung."

The sky was vast and Zhou Yu, wearing white armor, was quickly invisible in the northbound queue under the protection of his personal guards. Where his war horses passed by, there were bursts of cheers from soldiers from time to time. For these soldiers stationed in Jingbei, Zhou Yu, like Gao Chong, was their most respectable commander.

Wancheng in the evening of August.

The city walls were swaying and the swaying flames shone long shadows on the tall city walls, making it even more unsurpassable to climb. The city was notorious for its sturdiness. Cao Cao attacked Zhang Xiu three times and failed to attack the city. After Cao Ren took over as the prefect of Wancheng, Nanyang, the city walls were strengthened more majestic.

In recent days, General Cao Ren, the prefect of Wancheng, had to come to the city to inspect it several times every night. The war situation became tighter every day, and he could not tolerate any negligence. He was repeatedly entrusted with important tasks by Cao Cao and knew the importance of the city under his feet.

If Nanyang County is a pearl on the land of Wannanpan, then Wancheng is the most dazzling point embedded in this pearl, and it is constantly flashing with its brilliance.

As the prefecture of Nanyang County, Wancheng is the key to Sili's entrance to Jingzhou and the former Jingzhou capital. However, after Liu Biao took over as the governor of Jingzhou, the capital was moved to the present Xiangyang. It leads to Hanzhong to the west, connects the Jianghuai to the east, the continuous Funiu Mountains to the north, and the Han River to the south. No matter from which direction, Wancheng is an important gateway to protect Luoyang and Xudu and other Central Plains cities.

Especially after Gao Chong unified the four prefectures in Jiangnan, Nanyang County became the focus of the competition between Cao Cao and Gao Chong. In the sixth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao's general Xiahou Dun raised troops from Wancheng to fight south and almost occupied Xiangyang. Since Zhou Yu took over as the governor of Jingbei, he frequently used troops to Wancheng in order to open a road to the north and support the battle situation on the eastern front.

"How many miles are the enemy left from the city?" Cao Ren patted the dust on his helmet and asked while climbing the city.

According to the secret report of scouts who sneaked into the south, in Xinye, Fangling, Huyang and other counties on the banks of the Han River, the 30,000 elite soldiers from Jingbei who belonged to Zhou Yu began to move to the north. It is conceivable that their intention is obvious - to attack Wancheng in the north.

Now Cao Ren has only 10,000 troops in his hands, while Zhou Yu has nearly 30,000 elite troops in his hands. What’s more serious is not only the disadvantage of one against three, but also the troops that originally formed the second echelon of defense are now sent to the Huaibei battlefield by Cao Cao. Once Zhou Yu conquered Wancheng, the Xudu and Luoyang behind him will be in an unfavorable situation of opening up their doors to "welcome guests".

"Zi Xiao, no matter how fierce the battle you will encounter or how much the price you will pay, you will have to defend Wancheng for me." The letter written by Cao Cao was in Cao Ren's hand before leaving. This thin silk book was extremely heavy for Cao Ren.

"General, the three troops of the enemy Taishi Ci, Huang Zhong and Xu Sheng have escaped from Xinye and Huyang respectively, and are now rushing towards me. What should I do?" The answer was Niu Jin, the general who was following Cao Ren.

Niu Jin, who was big and thick, had red eyes and his back was a little hunched. This was a problem that had fallen after many years of military service. If we were to follow Cao Ren's age, Niu Jin had followed Cao Ren's side as early as when he was uprising in Cao Cao Chenliu. Especially in the Battle of Guandu, Cao Ren was ordered to lead his troops to fight against the Han Xun army of Yuan Shao's expeditionary army. Niu Jin, who was still a commander at that time, killed the enemy commander Han Xun in the chaos army and made his first contribution.

"Oh, it's hard to be a clever woman!!" Cao Ren sighed in his heart.

"General, let me go out of the city to fight the first battle. If I can win for a while, it will also defeat the arrogance of the southern thieves." Seeing that Cao Ren did not speak for a long time, Niu Jin stepped forward and asked for instructions.

The city tower is breeze, and the chill of early autumn is already there. After a few days, when the war horses in the fence are fat and strong, it will be time for athletes to hang out.

Thinking of this, Cao Ren said slowly: "No. Since Zhou Yu sent the three armies to invade, he would have made all kinds of plans. As long as our army goes to fight, it will lose the support of the strong city. Once the first battle is not won, the situation will be even more unfavorable."

"What should we do? Can we just wait and see the city and defend it?" Niu Jin stomped his feet unwillingly and said hatefully. He was not as far-reaching as Cao Ren thought.

"Yes, it's just a word called "Shou". Ren Zhouyu has ever-changing changes, and I only use one way to fight." Cao Ren said in a deep voice. It is of great significance to defend Wancheng. As long as Cao Ren guards here, Gao Chong's army in the south cannot go deeper into the vicinity of Xudu.

Now is not the time to fight, and everything should be the overall situation first. Cao Ren finally made up his mind and wanted to see what tricks Zhou Yu would use.

On August 19, the eighth year of Jian'an, Huang Zhong's vanguard troops were smoothly penetrated Cao Cao's hinterland under the nose of Cao's army. When the Jingbei soldiers passed by Wancheng, they even called the Cao army on the top of the city with interest.

When a war begins, it is an enemy that is irreconcilable and dead. If you don’t fight, just treat it as a friend. In the eyes of these ordinary soldiers, they don’t see opponents, but also living people.

On the 20th, Huang Zhong captured Lushan and Yingchuan; on the 21st, Yangdi was captured, and in just two days, all counties under Nanyang County were occupied by Gao Chong's army.

On the 24th, Huang Zhong's vanguard of thousands of troops arrived at Changshe, west of Xudu, and the people outside Xudu fled their homes and squeezed into the capital.

——

Huainan, in the tent of Cao Cao's central army in Lingbi.

The military victory of destroying Li Tong gave Cao Cao a stern expression on his face, but he couldn't laugh immediately.

"In mid-August, the southern thief Zhou Yu left Huyang, Xinye, and trapped Wancheng. The general Renwei, the expedition, had few troops to hold the city. Unexpectedly, the enemy besieged the city with one unit, and the other units attacked the Sili counties in multiple directions. The edge was approaching Xudu, and the officials and people in the court were all frightened and inexplicably-"

Although this urgent report from Xu Duling Man Chong was only a few words, it shocked Cao Cao. Man Chong was a heavy and steady person. When it was a critical moment, Cao Cao knew that he would not write down the above words.

"The person who came here asked Dian Juncai Xiahou Yuan to lead his troops to spear in reinforcements and defeat the enemy who attacked the far away!"

"Sir Sima Yi and Le Jin lead the army to stay in Xuzhou, and the rest of the troops follow us."

He poured heavy troops on the eastern front, and Cao Ren was under too much pressure from the front line of Wancheng. Once Zhou Yu broke through the defense and took Nanyang, Xu Du would be directly exposed to the threat of the enemy. Moreover, after Gao Chong mobilized Wenpin's headquarters to reinforce Huainan, there were actually not many opportunities for Cao Cao to advance south. The suggestion of withdrawing troops at the right time, Guo Jia and Xun You, both advised Cao Cao.
Chapter completed!