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Let’s go back to Liu Fan, King of Shu. After successfully using Sun Ce's death to stir up chaos in Jiangdong, Liu Fan even wanted to peek eastward. At the turn of spring and summer in the first year of Zhangwu, the situation seemed good for a time: Sun Shao and Sun Quan met in battle in Changsha, attracting most of the troops from both armies, so that the Jiangbei city defense was extremely empty. According to his scouts, only An Lu Luyi and Xiakou Lusu only had more than 7,000 people.
According to Liu Fan's plan, if the two grandsons fight, the people in Jiangbei will definitely be in chaos. With a little recruitment, the counties can be surrendered. At that time, he can sit back and watch the tiger fight on the south bank. When the two armies are exhausted, he will wait for the opportunity and defeat the remnant Dongwu army in one fell swoop. Then he can go down the river and Jiangdong will be at his fingertips. The long-term strategy of cutting the south and looking at the north will be It has since been realized.
However, after he marched from Jingling to the north of the Yangtze River and led his troops to surround Xiakou, Lu Su refused to surrender and then closed the city to defend himself. Because Xiakou City was built on Huanghu Mountain, surrounded by water on three sides, and located at a high altitude, making it difficult to attack in a hurry, Liu Fan surrounded the city on the spot and sent envoys to persuade Anlu to surrender. Unexpectedly, Lu Yi was even more stupid than Lu Su. Kill the envoy to make your ambition clear. This made Liu Fan very angry, so he left Huang Quan's troops to guard Xiakou, and he personally led most of his troops to besiege it.
Unexpectedly, this turned out to be a turning point for the Shu Dynasty from prosperity to decline.
When Lu Yide heard that the Shu army was coming from the north, he immediately dug up the dams on the upper reaches of the Ji River, turning the area around Anlu into a quagmire. Then he moved the people into the city and built high walls with city ultimatums, making it extremely difficult for the Shu army to move. No matter whether it was a watchtower or a ladder, it was difficult for the Shu army to move. It is even more difficult to set up, rush vehicles and other equipment, and the only way is to attack by force. In this case, the soldiers are just living targets who can move faster. Liu Fan only tried twice before calling off the siege due to heavy casualties.
It was already late April, and Liu Fan received news of Chen Chong's invasion of Hanzhong. He estimated that there were 40,000 people in Hanzhong, and the mountains were dangerous enough to hold on, so he put the matter aside and continued to order his men to drain water and install canals to build a long-term siege. Anlu's plan.
However, in early June, urgent documents from Shu suddenly flew like snowflakes in the camp, which was dizzying and made Liu Fan furious. After he learned that Pan Jun and Zhang Lu had surrendered, he scratched the back of his hand with his sword and said to the officials: "I don't know people well, so I let these scum mislead me."
So the siege of Anlu was relieved, and Huang Quan's troops from Xiakou were sent to join them, and they returned to Jiangling on a floating boat. It was raining heavily on the river that day, and the wind was raging, and countless trees on both sides of the river were swaying. However, there was no way to lift a fire in the boat on the river, so we could only head westward in the rain, and kept swaying in the darkness. Liu Fan listened quietly to the sound of rain between the windows, and felt that his heart was like the surging river, which was difficult to describe.
By the time we returned to Gangneung, it was already mid-June. He summoned his staff in the government to discuss the matter, and they all said that they should immediately gather all the ministries under his command to return to the center of Shu. Before the Westerners further expanded their advantage and occupied the dangerous fortress in the center of Shu, they would engage in a decisive battle with the enemy and force them to return to Guanzhong. Liu Fan took Jinfanqi under General Yingyang Gan Ning as the vanguard and secretly entered Jiangguan first to ensure a smooth passage into Shu. He himself gathered all the troops in Jingzhou to prepare for their return.
Gan Ning had just arrived at Jiangguan when Zhang Liao reported that the Han army had captured Langzhong, Nanchong and other places and was marching towards Mianzhu. Along the way, there were powerful people and defections, and Mianzhu might not be able to be saved. . When the news was reported to Liu Fan, Liu Fan was even more indignant. He said to Zhang Song, the commander of Yizhou Biejia: "This fierce battle is inevitable. I have been kind to Shuzhong for 20 years. Unexpectedly, the traitors are so big now. They will be killed in the future." Take me out of my way to vent my anger!"
Even though Zhang Liao had notified him, Liu Fan still hoped that Liu Zhang could defend Mianzhu, so he ordered the entire army to move quickly. However, when returning to Sichuan, they had to cross dangerous places such as Daba Mountain and Fangdou Mountain one after another, which made the march extremely difficult. Even though the army could not travel more than fifty miles a day, the soldiers all felt exhausted, but they were also worried about the war in their hometown. , the Shu people were still marching hard, but they were worried and their morale was low.
It was not until mid-July that the entire army stationed in Zhi County, and news of the fall of Mianzhu came in time. Liu Fan was already numb to the bad news and put the matter down with a wave of his hand. He has gradually realized that the situation in Shu has reached a critical moment that threatens the survival of the regime, and it is completely impossible to drive Chen Chong back to Guanlong through intimidation. He must prepare for the worst and fight with Chen Chong. Fight a decisive battle to the death.
Therefore, after Liu Fan arrived in Jiangzhou, he was not in a hurry to confront Chen Chong. Instead, he rested locally. At the same time, he summoned Dong He's Nanzhong Army to carefully inquire about the current size and generals of Chen Chong's troops. In contrast, all those under Liu Fan at this time can be said to be the elites he has carefully cultivated over the years. They think that they are so majestic in the south of the Yangtze River and have a gathering of people that they can compete with the Northern Dynasties.
In addition to Liu Fan himself, the famous ones include: the department of Sili Xiaowei Cheng Ji, the department of Nanjun Prefect Li Miao, the department of Lingling Prefect Zhang Ren, the department of Jiangling Ling and Shangshu Ling Zhang Song, and the department of Badong Prefect Liu Dan's Department, Ninghan General Zhang Fan's Department, Zhengdong General Huang Quan's Department, Yingyang General Gan Ning's Department, Yichang General Yan Yan's Department, Langzhong General Zhang Liao's Department, Wuling Prefect Zhang Su's Department, Qianwei The commander-in-chief Fei He, General Lou Chuan Feng Xi, Anjiang Colonel Kou Feng, Military Sima Liu Min, Ma Liang, etc.
Now, together with Dong He, the Pingyi general, and Pang Xi, the prefect of Yongchang, who came from the south to the north, except for the 10,000 soldiers guarding the generals, almost all the remaining heavy troops of the Shu Dynasty gathered together, and the momentum was extremely impressive.
However, in the face of the illustrious military exploits of Xichao Xifu, Liu Fan did not dare to underestimate him, so he opened up the granaries and allowed the soldiers to eat and recuperate as much as they wanted, while at the same time he inquired about the further movements of the Han army after capturing Mianzhu.
At this time, the Han army had taken advantage of the situation and captured all the Shu counties south of Mianzhu, reaching Jiuzhiluo County in the north and Wuyang in Qianwei in the south. All of them had surrendered to Chen Chong's troops. In the entire north of the Yangtze River and to the west of Jiangzhou, only Nan'an, Nan'an, and Jiangzhou were left. Jiangyang, Bodao and other counties have not yet been settled. But this does not mean that these few counties are loyal to Liu Fan, it is just because the Han army needs to rest and reorganize and has not yet sent troops to take over.
Liu Fan knew this very well. He compared the advantages and disadvantages between the two armies and believed that the Shu army was strong in two aspects, one was its navy, and the other was its soldiers. The Han army is also strong on two points, one is its cavalry, and the other is its large number of generals. This resulted in the two having no obvious advantage in battle. From the strategic point of view of both sides, the Han army has an obvious disadvantage, that is, the Shu army has no worries, and the Western Dynasty is conducting two battles at the same time. At this time, Liu Bei is leading 200,000 people to besiege Yecheng, and he will be unable to deal with it. Chen Chong provided support.
Therefore, Liu Fan believed that he should use his strengths and avoid weaknesses at the moment, avoid large-scale battles on the plains, and instead rely on the rivers to gradually advance, confront each other and enter the camp, forcing the Han army to engage in small-scale tug-of-war with him, and convert his advantages in location and numbers In order to gain an advantage on the battlefield, he waited for the people in Shu to gradually turn towards him, and then defeated them in one fell swoop.
Time soon came to late July. After the entire Shu army had rested and recuperated, it began to march westward. They walked along the river and passed through Jiangyang and Bodao without encountering any obstacles. However, what they saw was frightening: the people along the road fled south or surrendered to the north because they were afraid of military disasters. A large area of no man's land has appeared in the so-called central Sichuan. Although the beams in those villages were still there, they lost their vitality because of the absence of people. When the Shu army passed by at night, the autumn wind howled and the branches of the trees flapped against each other. The cold atmosphere made them feel a sense of horror, like a ghost. Many people can't sleep at night.
In August during the Sino-Japanese War, the Shu army marched fifty miles southeast of Nan'an (today's Leshan). The scouts from the front finally reported that the Han army was camping and building fortifications outside Nan'an City. When Liu Fan heard about it, he immediately ordered the entire army to advance another ten miles. , camped in the valley at the foot of Tiangong Mountain. He personally led hundreds of cavalry and rode to the front line to observe the enemy's situation.
Nan'an is located at the intersection of Dajiang and Qingyi, which divides the surrounding terrain into four fragmented parts. In addition, it is backed by the three mountains of Da'e, Zhong'e and Xiao'e. The mountains and rivers are so beautiful that it can be said to be the crown of Shu. It is only two hundred miles from Chengdu to the north, and the river flows from the north and widens to the east. For the Shu army with a navy, this place is convenient and close to Jiangyuan. It can be said that the battle is decisive, and the victory or defeat is important place.
When Liu Fan and his knights arrived at the south of Nan'an City, tens of thousands of cavalry could be seen encamping along the river. These northerners had been jostling in Shu for a long time, and their beloved horses had lost a lot of fat, so they all rushed to the river to get water for bathing and brushing their horses. Horses of various colors were noisy back and forth across the river bank. They were densely packed and spectacular. The Shu people had never seen so many horses before, and they were frightened for a while.
Liu Fan also noticed that the Han army further north seemed to be making large-scale personnel movements, but he could not see clearly because of the obstruction of his line of sight. So he led his troops across the river eastward and then to Denggan Mountain further north to observe the enemy's situation. At this time, it was discovered that the Han army was constantly collecting the surrounding boats. The purpose is also very obvious. There is already a prototype of a pontoon bridge on both sides of the river, and camps and watchtowers are added at both ends of the pontoon bridge. It seems that they are ready to fight here.
Huang Quan, who was accompanying him, watched for a while and quickly understood the Han army's intention. He said to Liu Fan: "It seems that the enemy is planning to use the pontoon bridge to block the flow of our navy to protect Nan'an's flank. If we want to continue going north, it seems we have to fight some tough battles here.”
Liu Fanshen thought so, but the confrontation was just what he wanted, so he held his sword and said with a smile: "I just saw the neighing of thousands of horses on the other side, which made me a little afraid. After all, Chengdu is surrounded by plains. If the thieves are allowed to run away, we can fight together." What chance do I have of winning? But since the traitor is strong but weak, if he and I are to fight against each other in this marsh, how can we fight with him, no matter how many people there are? I already know this battle in my heart."
After that, he and his entourage rode back to the camp, summoned the generals in the army to come for a military meeting, and planned to launch a small-scale trial attack the next day.
