Time flies, half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.
Within half a month, Xiahou Shang and Cao Zhen had led their troops to complete the task of building a pontoon bridge and began to arrange for the army to cross south quickly.
When they crossed Zhang River and Ju River, arrived at the north of Jiangling City and set up camp, it was several days earlier than expected.
At this time, Wu Jun's reinforcements, including Zhuge Jin and Pan Zhang, had also arrived in Jiangling and met up with Jiangling's general Zhu Ran.
Since both sides had traveled a long distance and needed repairs, and neither side had to worry about rear supplies for the time being, neither of the two armies dared to act rashly, and the stalemate began.
The Qingjiao of the Eastern Wu Dynasty and the Huanglong of the Wei Dynasty gradually began to increase their scales and sharpen their claws and claws, and planned to have a battle.
In order to keep an eye on the war situation and motivate the soldiers of the three armies, Emperor Cao Pi personally led the Chinese army to Wancheng this time.
In the camp in Wancheng, Wei Emperor Cao Pi was sitting in front of the case, holding a long sword in his hand and wearing light armor with sleeves, as if he was thinking about something.
At this time, he was looking at the maps of Jingxiang and Wuyue on the desk with proud and excited eyes.
He had planned this three-pronged expedition against Wu in his dreams so many times, but now, this plan has begun to be implemented. If this southern expedition succeeds, his grand plan of unifying the world will almost be realized! When he thought of this, Cao Pi was so excited that he drew out his sword with a clatter and nailed it to the south of the Yangtze River in the picture above.
He secretly swore in his heart: This time he will definitely conquer Wu!
I heard that Wen Lie's army was very sharp this time, and he had led his army to defeat the Wu army in Wuhu a year ago, and he had already established his power in the land of Wu and Yue. It seemed that he was determined to win this time, but I heard that Wen Lie's opponent was the famous Soochow general Lu Fan Lu Ziheng did not dare to be too careless.
As for the middle road, the general Cao Ren has fought with the late king in the world in his early years, and he is known as the "man of heaven". In addition, Jiang Ji is a wise general who joined the army, so there should be no problem. But Sun Quan just sent the little-known young general Zhu Huan as the Ruxu governor to resist his own general Sima. I really don't know what medicine he bought in the gourd.
On the west road, there is Boren who has been guarding Jingxiang for many years, and Zidan is helping him. Together with a group of veteran generals, they should be enough to deal with Zhu Ran.
At this time, the sergeant who sent the order walked into the military tent, knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, Cao Xiu, the general who conquered the east, has a report."
Cao Pi came back to his senses, nodded, and Dong Zhao, who was standing by him, understood and took the watch from the sergeant's hand. After the sergeant left, he read aloud: "I wish to march with sharp soldiers to the south of the Yangtze River to obtain funds from the enemy. Everything must be done quickly; if there are no ministers, there is no need to worry about it.”
"If he has no ministers, don't worry about it..." Cao Pi frowned slightly: "Wen Lie's words make me uneasy. Dong Zhao, hurry up and send the order, tell Wen Lie to be careful and not to rush. Cross the river!"
However, the servant Dong Zhao did not immediately go out to deliver the order. Without thinking, he spoke: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, you can rest assured that General Zhengdong will not cross the river so quickly."
"Oh?" Cao Pi had some doubts and asked, "Why?"
"Your Majesty, this is a three-pronged attack on Wu. The eastern route and the front line are commanded by General Cao Xiu. Although General Cao Xiu is brave and courageous, this time he has all senior generals under his command who are highly respected and successful, such as General Zang Ba. Zang Ba and others are both If you are rich and noble, you have no hope of returning, but if you only want to keep your fortune for the rest of your life, why would you take advantage of danger and throw yourself to death just for the sake of luck? Your Majesty, just imagine, if General Zang Ba and others delay, how can General Cao Xiu do it? How about going deep into the army alone?" Dong Zhao talked eloquently, and in just a few words he had thoroughly analyzed the psychology of everyone.
[Note 1: "Three Kingdoms·Book of Wei 14·Biography of Dong Zhao": "In the third year, Cao Xiu, the general who conquered the east, came to Dongpukou and said: 'I am willing to march with sharp soldiers to the south of the Yangtze River. I will use the enemy's capital to win the victory.' "If he has no ministers, don't worry about him." The emperor was afraid that he would stop, so he crossed the river, and the post horse ordered him to stop. Shi Zhao was on the side, because he said: "I saw that your majesty was worried, so you just stopped to help the river? Now that's the reason." Crossing the river is difficult due to human circumstances, so don’t have such ambitions. You will not go alone, and you must use all the generals. Zang Ba and others are rich and noble, and have no hope of returning to other places. They just want to keep their fortune and Zuo for the rest of their lives, so why are they willing to take advantage of it? Throwing yourself to death just for the sake of luck? If Gou Ba can’t wait, you’ll be disappointed. ..."]
After listening to Dong Zhao's detailed analysis, Cao Pi's slightly frowned eyebrows slowly relaxed at this moment. He nodded with satisfaction, and then smiled and said: "Ai Qing's words are reasonable, and you are worthy of my fairness, haha Ha ha!"
"I wish your majesty immediate success, and the might of the Wei army will shock the world!" Dong Zhao bowed slightly, saluted the emperor and said with a smile.
Although Jingxiang is like spring all year round, the cool autumn wind has gradually become a bit cold. It's already the winter season.
Flying snow also fell in the Jingzhou area, and accompanied by the cold wind, it drifted into the mountains and rivers of Jianghan and into the military camp.
The armies of Xiahou Shang and Cao Zhen have been locked in a stalemate with Zhu Ran's defenders on the Jiangling line for several months.
Southwest of Jiangling City, on the shallow bank of the Yangtze River, there is a river island with a radius of a hundred miles, and its name is "Baili Island". The island can be cultivated, and its geographical location can form a corner with Jiangling City.
In other words, whoever takes the first step to occupy this place can pose a greater threat to the other party.
Just a few days ago, the Wu army coach Zhu Ran had sent Wu general Sun Sheng to lead tens of thousands of people to occupy this good place first. This was certainly not good news for Xia Houshang and Cao Zhen.
Xia Houshang and Cao Zhen couldn't help but think to themselves that Zhu Ran and Zhu Yifeng were indeed worthy of being the famous general of Soochow valued by Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, and he was indeed not a fuel-efficient lamp.
Less than three miles north of Bailizhou, two young Wei army light-armored cavalry scouts were hiding in the darkness, observing the nearby terrain and discussing something in a low voice.
"Axuan, the Wu army's camp looks very stable. We can't go any further." The young cavalryman with soft eyebrows who spoke was Cao Xi. The young man next to him with a name similar to Chang Geng and a handsome appearance was Xia Houxuan.
In the past few months, the two of them took the initiative to volunteer and followed the sentries on many spying operations. Now they have the ability to act independently.
"Then Sun Sheng is a famous general in Jiangdong, so he is naturally not an ordinary person." Xia Houxuan was drawing something on the horse with a pen and paper, and said: "This is enough for us to see clearly."
Scout Xia Houxuan watched vigilantly for any dust rising in the distance, while he leaned on his horse and drew a map of the enemy's defense at Bailizhou in the middle of the river on silk paper.
The two of them had been waiting around Bailizhou for more than two hours, and finally drew these scrawled but realistic marching defense plans. Xia Houxuan breathed a sigh of relief, blew on the ink marks on the silk paper, and carefully He rolled the drawing pen into his armor, and then said to Cao Xi: "Okay, the mission is completed, let's go back quickly, be careful the enemy finds us."
"drive!"
Xia Houxuan gently shook the reins of the "White Que" horse, then turned the horse's head and returned to the camp to resume his life. He thought that it was fortunate that General Lu Yi did not come to the battlefield in person this time, otherwise he would not be repaying his kindness by accompanying the army on the expedition.
"drive!"
When Cao Xi saw Xiahou Xuan going north, he did not dare to delay. He immediately followed his cousin and galloped northward.
In the north of Jiangling City, the Wei army was in the tent.
The commander-in-chief, Zhengnan General Xia Houshang, was sitting alone in front of the case, staring at the long scroll map of Jingxiang, Wuyue.
Military reports came not long ago that the eastern front army led by Wen Lie, with good timing and taking advantage of a storm in the river, defeated Wu General Jiang Qin's navy; and the middle army led by General Da Sima Cao Ren also Having arrived at Ruxukou, Jiang Ji, who joined the army, led an army to attack Xianxi, successfully attracting Wu general Ruxudu Zhu Huan to divide his troops to reinforce Xianxi, completing the first step of the strategy. As for Zidan and himself on the Western Front, they were already at a disadvantage because they did not occupy Bailizhou in the middle of the river first. They were trusted by His Majesty to supervise and lead the armies, but now they have no merit. How can they repay His Majesty's kindness? It seems that they We also need to come up with countermeasures as soon as possible.
"Bo Ren!" Before anyone outside the tent arrived, the loud voice reached the tent first. Xiahou Shang raised his eyes and saw that it was Cao Zhen who came. Cao Zhen strode over to Xiahou Shang and took out several scrawled marching defense plans. These were exactly the Baili River map drawn by Xiahou Xuan and Cao Xi. Regarding the defense plan of Zhongzhou, he smiled and said to Xia Houshang: "Xuan'er and Xi'er, these two boys, did a really good job in this mission. Take a look."
Xia Houshang looked at the scrawled illustrations on the silk, and gradually his frown relaxed, and his eyes were full of excitement.
"Okay! That's great!" Xia Houshang couldn't help laughing: "Sun Sheng's troops stationed in Jiangzhongzhou are all infantry. God helps me!"
"Not only that." A confident and domineering smile appeared at the corner of Cao Zhen's mouth, so that his tiger moustache was slightly raised. He continued: "The entire Wu army navy, led by Wu general Zhuge Jin, went to defend the public security. In addition, Our army's General Wenpin has led his troops to blockade the enemy's water and land routes from the southeast, so we can deal with Zhu Ran and the others with confidence."
"Okay!" Xia Houshang stood up, his words full of excitement: "Originally, what we were most afraid of was the Soochow navy, but now the Jiangzhongzhou is full of Soochow infantry, and it will be much easier to capture it. And Zhuge Liang Although Jin is known as the "Tiger Talent" of Zhuge family, in fact he only knows how to guard the pass. He only has plans and no courage. He is not afraid at all! This is really God helping me. Zidan, please pass on the order and tell the soldiers not to do it. If you slack off and work harder, we will take over Jiangzhongzhou within a month!"
"No!" Cao Zhen accepted the order and immediately said with a smile: "By the way, Boren, Xuan'er and Xi'er have made some small contributions this time. Do you think they should be rewarded?"
Xiahou Shang smiled, and then said: "That's natural. However, Xuan'er's handwriting is really sloppy this time. See if I don't deal with him later."
