After Qu Yi rebelled, Liu Bei immediately knew that something was wrong and quickly mobilized 30,000 Jinyang soldiers to go north overnight. However, he was still a step too late and allowed Qu Yi to occupy Guoxian and Fanzhi one after another, opening up the road to the Eastern Dynasty. When he arrived at the foot of Juyang City, Han Hao, the prefect of the Wei and Han dynasties, had already led his troops to respond, with about 10,000 people confronting Liu Bei.
Liu Bei wanted to fight quickly and take advantage of the small scale of the war to throw the rebellion to an end, but he failed quickly.
The terrain of Juyang is dangerous, with Liuling Mountain to the northwest and Hengshan Mountain to the southeast, both of which are thousands of feet high and difficult to overcome. This is like a vertically elongated "door" character. Bafu could only attack Juyang from the southwest corner through a passage that was twenty miles wide, but Qu Yi had already expected that he would attack Juyang thirty miles south. Camped in the area of Crouching Tiger Mountain. Crouching Tiger Mountain stretches for ten miles in the southeast direction, directly cutting off the north passage to Bafu. Although there is still a passage south of the Hun River, Liu Bei did not dare to go deeper and risk exposing his flank, so he had to send troops to attack Crouching Tiger Mountain.
At the same time, reinforcements from the Eastern Dynasty were continuously delivering supplies to Quyi through the Sanyin Mountain Trail in the northwest of Nao County. This is the only mountain road in Juyang that leads directly to Daijun, and Liu Bei cannot interfere at all.
Qu Yi has a complete baggage, powerful bows and crossbows, and strong reinforcements at his side. It can be said that he is waiting for work. It was midsummer during the war. Even though they were in northern Xinjiang, the Bafu soldiers were much more exhausted than usual after a long-distance attack. This caused Liu Bei's two strong attacks to end in failure. Soon, as the Xianbei army and Xiahou Yuan's troops entered the battlefield, the war inevitably escalated further. These circumstances forced Liu Bei to painfully admit that his original strategy of a quick war had failed.
During this period, he sent Jian Yong to inspect the generals in Bingzhou. Except for Linghuyuan's tribe in Pingcheng, which was stationary, the rest of the tribes rushed to Mayi. For a time, excluding Liu Bei's headquarters who were still in Crouching Tiger Mountain, the number of people gathered in Mayi reached 70,000. In recent years, many of the famous generals of the Western Kingdom have withered away. In addition to those who died in wars over the years, such as Zang Hong, Liu Xuan, Zhang Xian, Xu Shu, Gao Zhun, Zhang Yang, Qin Yilu, etc., the famous generals in the government such as Tao Qiuhong and Zhao Qi have also disappeared. Died of illness. However, all the generals gathered in Mayi, and the military appearance was not comparable to that of the Bohai War, but it was still very impressive. Well-known ones include:
The troops of Zhendinghou and Dingxiang Governor Zhang Fei; the troops of Southern Huns Zuoxian King and the chief of Yizhen Liu Bao in the central region; the troops of Guangguhou and Du Liao general Gongsun Zan; the troops of Tai'an Hou and rebel general Taishi Ci; the troops of Nan Xianbei Chanyu and Northern Yizhen Chief Tuoba Liwei's troops; Hequhou and Jing'an General Changxi's troops; Pingding Hou and Zhaoyu General Linghu Shao's troops; Yangxiang Hou and Xinglei General Wen Shu's troops. The Marquis of Changwen Township and the commander-in-chief Chen Dao are under his command, the Marquis of Pingyi Township and the Protector Zhonglang are under the command of Shejian, the Marquis of Wuxiang, the Zhonglang of Anxia are under the command of Wang Chang, the Marquis of Xingpingting and the Duwei Zhu of Jinyang are under his command. Hao's department.
This is just the troops gathered in Bingzhou. Chen Chong, who was far away in Chang'an, after learning the news, knew the importance of this battle to the country and immediately recruited troops from all over the country. Looking at the current situation, the three armies of Dongfu, Xifu and Nanfu are still being formed, but they are still relatively effective. After careful consideration, Chen Chong believed that except that the situation in Yan and Henan in Dongfu was too complicated and was not suitable for deployment, All the Shanglin army went out to fight, while 70% of the Xifu army was allocated to suppress the Qiang rebellion. Only half of the Nanfu army was left to guard against Liu Fan's possible northward advance.
The structure of the Chinese military has been discussed in the previous article, so it will not be described again. However, the famous generals from Xifu and Nanfu transferred at this time are also worth mentioning.
As mentioned before, the commander-in-chief of the Xifu Army is Duan Xuan, the Marquis of Guiyi and the governor of Jincheng. Under his command are the military advisor Jia Xu, the military governor Zhang Yi, the army guard Ma Chao, the leader Yang Fu, the Dianjun Yan Xing, and the military commander Pang Tong. There are six generals in the Sixth Division, namely Qu Sheng, Ren Yang, Jia Hong, Zhang Heng, Liu Xiong, and Li Xian. Among them, Qu Sheng and Zhang Heng stayed in Longxi.
The commander-in-chief of the Nanfu Army was Guanyonghou and Wei Yan, the governor of Chencang. Under him were military advisor Shi Tao, military governor Liang Shuang, guard Du Ji, leader Miao Shang, dianjun Zhang Yan, and Liu Qian who joined the army. There were four divisions under him. The generals are Cen Guang, You Chu, Yang Xi, and Wang Chang. Among them, You Chu and Yang Xi stayed behind in Chencang.
As a result, Guanlong mobilized as many as 80,000 troops, with more than 100,000 numbers, and gathered along the Wei River towards Chang'an. When Chen Chong heard that Xianbei had moved south and that Cao Cao had mobilized an army of 200,000 to set off, all the ministries were not fully gathered yet, so he advanced to Puban and repaired roads in Pingyang, east of the river, and would head north to Bingzhou in a few days.
Soon in early June, with the large-scale deployment of troops by the Eastern and Western Dynasties, the determination of both sides for a decisive battle was fully exposed.
, plus most of the Xianbei army from the north moving south, the scale of this war will reach an extremely frightening half a million. It can be said that the whole world is attracting attention, and all knowledgeable people understand that once the decisive battle begins, no matter what the final outcome is, it will inevitably affect the political trend within the next ten years. But who can win? No one has any idea.
Since the Eastern Dynasty joined forces earlier, Cao Cao's main army arrived at the battlefield earlier than Chen Chong. When the 200,000 Eastern Army entered Dai County one after another, Liu Bei knew that he could no longer dwell on Juyang, so he took the initiative to lead his army back to Mayi to rest and regroup. This gave Cao Cao another rare opportunity. However, he was not in a hurry to break through from Juyang. Instead, he ordered Qu Yi to slowly advance westward and made a gesture of fighting with him, while he led the army to calmly advance westward from Gaoliu.
This is due to many considerations. Although sending troops out of Juyang can directly threaten the heart of Bingzhou, firstly, this decision is too risky. The Eastern Army is not familiar with it, so it would be too risky to rush into battle. Secondly, the Sanyin Mountain trail is too narrow, and Kebi can enter the plot from then on. After Yang, logistics is already extremely tight. If another 200,000 troops pass by from now on, it will be completely unable to support the logistics transportation of the army, and it will easily cause great losses.
Therefore, after discussing with Shen Pei and others, Cao Cao chose to adopt the strategy of one positive and one surprising: the frontal army would be the main force to encircle Pingcheng, and Qu Yi in Juyang would be the partial force and surprise troops. He has issued a letter to Qu Yi. If the main force of the Western Army moves north, Qu Yi will attack from the side. If Qu Yi can restrain the main force of the Western Army from daring to advance north rashly, then even better. He will be able to open the northern gate of Bingzhou without any blood, which will make it safer. A decisive battle between the ground and the Western Army.
On Guiyou Day, Cao Cao led his troops to the east of Pingcheng City and stationed themselves at the foot of Baishan Mountain, about fifteen miles away. Cao Cao personally climbed up to Baishan Mountain to observe the defenses of Pingcheng.
Because it is the front line facing Xianbei, and after more than ten years of management by the Western Army, Pingcheng can be said to have formed an extremely complex defense system.
Needless to say, the outer walls of the urn city related to the great city have been repaired for a long time. Regardless of the height and thickness of the city walls, they are not inferior to those in Luoyang, Chang'an. The fortifications outside the city are also appalling. On the east side alone, there are more than ten small forts distributed in a wave shape as a barrier, while on the north side, there is a sub-city, which is at the angle of Pingcheng, enough to accommodate 300,000 people. In order to solve the water problem of more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians in the city, Liu Bei once carried out extensive construction projects and opened up a new river channel from the Wuchuan water to ensure that the new river could flow slowly between the two cities. Not to mention that there are three Xianbei righteous towns set up by Liu Bei about fifty miles south of Pingcheng. It is said that they have recruited more than 80,000 people. Although many of them are women, old and young, not everyone can fight, and many of them are on horseback. They gathered in the city, but it was enough to cause great trouble to the siege.
After Cao Cao figured out the specific layout of Pingcheng, he couldn't help being frightened by it, and then sighed to Cao Ren: "This is probably the strongest city in the world. If this battle can be broken, the world will not be peaceful!"
Knowing that it was impossible to conquer Pingcheng immediately, Cao Cao stopped being impetuous and chose to first uproot the Wubao east of Pingcheng while waiting for the Xianbei Kebineng army to join forces. At Bingzi, Ke Bi was able to return from the Sanyin Mountain trail, and then traveled hundreds of miles to join Cao Cao. The meeting place between the two sides was decided at the foot of Baishan Mountain.
The scene of 300,000 troops gathering together was naturally too spectacular to describe. The flags covered the sun, the sea of people formed a tidal wave, and the sound of waving soldiers and armor was like a violent tsunami. The last time I saw an army of this size was when Liu Bei conquered Hebei seven years ago. Nowadays, the world has changed, and it is the turn of the East to lead an army of this size to conquer Shanxi. Even Cao Cao himself felt extremely emotional.
And what's different from Liu Bei's army that time was that this time the Eastern Army had more horses than the Western Army. Horses of various colors were walking through the valley, layer upon layer, like endless waves. No one knows exactly how many horses the Xianbei people brought, which put great psychological pressure on the soldiers of the Western Army guarding Pingcheng.
This was also the first time that Cao Cao met Xianbei Shanyu Kebineng. He heard that Kebineng was a great man from the Xianbei people, with an extremely heroic appearance. Today he saw Kebineng at first glance, looking at Kebineng's armor and riding attire, but he didn't notice any difference. When he pulled off his iron stomach and revealed his hairy face, , suddenly felt that his reputation was well-deserved, and praised him highly as Mobei Yushan. The Xianbei people who were traveling with him couldn't help but feel sad when they saw Cao Cao's short appearance.
He was scornful and talked privately: Yuan Shijun was so handsome in the past, but unexpectedly his inheritance fell into the hands of a dwarf.
That night, Cao Cao led his generals to invite Ke Bineng and his generals to a banquet. When Cao Cao drank to his heart's content, he drew his sword and danced by himself in the hall. Everyone in Xianbei was surprised, but the generals of the Eastern Army were used to it. What's more, they accompanied Cao Cao's drum music. Cao Cao danced his sword under the moon while singing contentedly:
"Drinking and singing, in peacetime, officials don't call at the door.
The king is wise and wise, and the prime minister is loyal and good. With politeness and courtesy, the people have no disputes or lawsuits.
After three years of farming, there are nine years of savings, and the barns are full. Gray doesn't load.
Yuze is like this, and hundreds of grains are used to make it. But he ran away and dung his fields.
The duke, marquis, and son-in-law love their people so much that they depose Youming.
A son is raised like a father and brother. Violations of etiquette and laws will be punished according to the severity.
There is no way to find something private. The sky is empty and the winter festival continues.
When people are old, they all die. Endurance spreads across vegetation and insects. "
This is "Drinking Song" written by Cao Cao himself. It is rare that there is no mention of war in the poem, but only his imagination of the peaceful and prosperous age. After the Xianbei people had people translate it, they were all moved by it, and they all marveled at Cao Cao's majestic grace in dancing with his sword. When they discussed again, they said: If you can deal with Marshal Jiucao, you will live up to your heroic spirit.
