For the imperial court that was already planning the southern expedition, the original time to start the southern expedition was in the spring of the eighth year of Yanxi. After all, the expansion of the army by the imperial court occurred at the end of the fifth year of Yanxi. By the eighth year of Yanxi, probably in the early two years, it happened to be the time when an enlisted soldier could skillfully wield a bow. By that time, all the supplies for the southern expedition were ready. Qi, once the spring tide surges, the army can start the southern expedition.
As for how to attack, Chen Chong actually made a complete plan.
The blueprint of the plan comes from the lessons learned from the previous Battle of Jianye. Chen Chong believed that the failure of the Han army at that time was mainly due to two points. The first is that it is generally accepted that the Han army did not have a naval force that could compete with the Wu people. The second point is about strategic issues. The naval problem may not be solved at the time, but the Wu people's military disadvantage is real. As long as this is used rationally, the Han army may not be unable to win. However, the Han army directly pushed into Jianye without solving the threat upstream. As a result, once Zhou Yu defeated the Han navy, the 200,000-strong army was trapped on the south bank of the river, with no way out. And what if the army was not in a hurry to cross the river at that time? As long as Zhou Yu's reinforcements arrive in Jianye first, and the Bashu and Xiangyang Han armies go to capture Jingzhou, does the victory or defeat under Jianye City really matter?
Therefore, Chen Chong started from this point and decided to place the main attack in Jingzhou and carry out the auxiliary attack in the direction of Huainan.
Marshal Guan Yu is responsible for the main attack direction of Jingzhou. The Nanfu and Xifu have a total of 180,000 troops, both of which are controlled by Guan Yu. Nanfu has him as the main general, and Xifu has Zhang Fei as the main general. Under his command are Ma Dai and Jiang Wei. , Deng Ai, Wang Ji, Pang Tong, Li Yi, Shangguan Sheng, Lu Yi, Li Hui, Xizhen and other generals can be said to be a gathering of strong generals. Chen Chong planned that the Han army would first launch an attack from Xifu. The Xifu army had already accumulated an extremely impressive naval force in Nan'an. At this time, it only needed to go down the river and attack Jingnan along the south bank to attract the Wu people. With the idea, Nanfu can lead the army southward, cross the Han River and attack the cities of Xiangyang, Jiangling and Anlu. With several times the strength of the Han army, the Wu army would definitely not be able to defend the city and would have to either choose a decisive battle or retreat. As the two armies march across the bank, the Wu army will inevitably be forced to stand on its left and right sides, making it difficult to parry.
On the Huainan side, Zhuge Liang is responsible for controlling the 120,000 Dongfu army, under the jurisdiction of generals such as Du Ji, Niu Jin, Ma Su, Jiang Xu, and Li Yan. They will attack at the same time as the Jingzhou side, but the purpose is to contain the enemy forces downstream. Joining upstream is not a decisive battle with it. Therefore, Chen Chong wrote to Zhuge Liang and arranged that after he launched his battle, he should recapture most of the cities in the north of the Yangtze River. However, he could postpone the attack on Ruxuwu, a dangerous strategic point in the north of the Yangtze River, so as not to allow the enemy to completely retreat to the south of the Yangtze River, but also to make it difficult for him to attack. Take Jingzhou into consideration. After the situation in Jingzhou has been settled, it will not be too late to launch a general offensive.
After both armies achieved their strategic goals and joined forces in Huainan, the final move was to attack Jianye. At this time, there were no reinforcements outside Jianye, and they were forced from three sides. Their lives were hanging by a thread. For the Han army, it was like a peach that was about to ripen and fall. At this time, as long as they cut off the communication between the Wu people and the south on land, they would be cut off. With the last glimmer of hope for the Wu people, victory has been achieved. After all, even if they don't fight with them, the Wu people can't even transport food and grass in. If they don't want to starve to death, they will have to face the outcome of failure.
After this plan was finalized at the end of the sixth year of Yanxi, the Prime Minister's Office already knew all the generals above the rank of captain in the Han army. The whole country was also preparing for this. Zhang Fei, the chariot and cavalry general who was training at Heqiao, now Shi Ye succeeded Ma Chao and led his army to Baidi City. But in June of the seventh year of Yanxi, a piece of news reached the Prime Minister's Mansion, disrupting Chen Chong's original plan. It turned out that a great chaos broke out among the Wuxi Barbarians, which had already affected Jingnan and moved to the four counties.
As mentioned before, it is no secret that the Han army is preparing to attack Wu, and the Wu people are also trying every means to strengthen Jingzhou's defense. However, the national power in the south of the Yangtze River is not as strong as that in the north. Since Sun Ce changed the Yangzhou system to the military-conferring system, the tribes under his command have become more ruthless and plunder the common people. All the famous families have hidden their houses and hidden the people. As a result, there has been no great chaos in Jiangdong. The national registration in the household register But it has been decreasing year after year, and taxes are in arrears every year. But this is the foundation of the Sun family and cannot be easily changed. The Yangzhou shogunate can only let it go and find another source of income.
So Sun Quan turned his attention to the Shanyue barbarians in the deep mountains and old forests. The terrain of Yangzhou, Jingzhou and Jiaozhou is complex. In addition to the dense water network, there are more hills and mountains. Many uncivilized people live here. Speaking of which, these people have settled here since Emperor Sejong opened the border. When the Han people moved here, they only opened up the relatively flat plains and rivers. Therefore, for hundreds of years, except for a few cases, the Han people have not interacted with life. The people all live their own lives and live in peace with each other. But for today's Sun Quan shogunate, it is another matter. These Shanyue barbarians have a large population. If they can be captured and turned into farmers, it can greatly alleviate the government's deficit. And if they are added to the army, these mountain people have lived in the mountains and forests since childhood, and they can be regarded as hardworking and hardworking. , is a very good source of troops. Therefore, after Sun Quan came to power, it became the national policy of the Wu people to arrest and subdue the barbarians. In the past two years, facing the increasingly aggressive Han army, the Wu people have intensified their efforts to capture the barbarians.
The Wuxi Barbarians who revolted this time were the most famous of the Southern Barbarians in Jingzhou. Wuxi barbarians are also called Wuling barbarians. Because there are five streams in Wuling, namely Xiongxi, Xixi, Youxi, Yuanxi and Chenxi, they are the residence of barbarians all year round, so they are called so. As early as when Shizu re-established the Han Dynasty, the Wuxi Barbarians were already the dominant hegemon in Jingnan, and then they continued to rise up for two hundred years. Although the imperial court often defeated them, they could not be completely suppressed. It was still during the period when Liu Biao was in power. His benevolent policies made the Wuxi Barbarians stable for more than ten years. Even after the Wu people captured Jingzhou, they were still afraid of the Wuxi Barbarians' power and continued Liu Biao's appeasement policy.
It was not until March of the seventh year of Yanxi that Lu Xun found out that the Han army had increased its troops by nearly 200,000. He felt that his troops were in a quandary and it was difficult to defend against the enemy, so he reached out to the Wuxi barbarians. He sent Zhuge Jin to Chenyang, Wuling, intending to recruit 20,000 people into the army. However, as soon as Zhuge Jin made his request, all the tribes in Wuxi immediately made a fuss, stating that they would never serve the Sun family, and then they turned around and withheld the request. Zhuge Jin, asked Lu Xun to send property, and then declared that if they could not handle the case, they would respond to the Northerners. After Lu Xun learned about it, he was furious and immediately sent Fei Zhan to lead five thousand elite troops to attack Chenyang. Wuxi Man was caught off guard and fled leaving Zhuge Jin behind. Then he felt deeply humiliated and simply elected Samoko as king. Tens of thousands of people rose up in Jingnan and sent envoys to the Han army in Nanfu for help.
At this time, the guard general Zhang Ji was in charge of Nanfu. After receiving the report, he could not make the decision independently, so he sent the envoy to Luoyang to report the situation to Chen Chong.
Chen Chong was overjoyed to see the envoy, and immediately asked in detail about the specific situation in Jingnan: How many people were there in Wuling? Can he fight against Wu Jun? If you can't fight the enemy, how long can you last? But the result was disappointing to him. Although the Wuling barbarians were large in number, they lacked weapons and armor and were unable to face the Wu army head-on. They could only attack their weak points and mobilize the Wu people, but this was not a permanent solution. If the Han army Without rescue, if the Wu army goes south to encircle and suppress, Samoko will be able to hold on until October at most, and then he may have no choice but to be captured.
This left Chen Chong faced with a choice: should he sit back and watch the Wuxi barbarians perish in Jingnan? Or should we plan ahead and make Guan Yu and Zhang Fei go south immediately? Chen Chong thought about it and felt that he still couldn't let go of this good opportunity. It was already June after all. By the time the military order was sent to Guan Yu, he would be ready and it would probably be late July. By that time, the autumn floods had begun to subside, and the Wu army was no longer able to use large-scale ships on the Han River, but the small boats prepared by Nanfu could move freely. It was also the season when the Han army's cavalry was most comfortable. Although the Han army was not fully prepared at this time, the Wu people also had to face the dilemma of fighting on three sides, and the shortcomings of insufficient troops would be further amplified, so why not?
Therefore, Chen Chong made up his mind to advance the southern expedition. He immediately brought the seal and awarded Shamoko the post of General Guiyi. He asked the envoy to pass it to Shamoko and said that he would quickly send a large army to attack Soochow. Then he issued an edict through the imperial court and appointed Guan Yu as the commander-in-chief of the three armies of the Southern Expedition. He was also the marshal and the governor-general. The three prefectures in the east, west and south were under his control. General Zhang Fei of Chariots and Cavalry led the Xifu army out of Baidi, and General Zhang Ji led the army guard. After Nanfu passed Xiangyang, Zhuge Liang, the general who conquered the east, led Dongfu to attack Huainan, officially starting the battle to destroy Wu.
After the news came out, everyone in the government and the public were shocked. Although it had been expected for a long time that the Prime Minister would launch a war to destroy Wu, but now that it actually happened, it still made people feel a sense of unreality. Everyone in the court said that it was too hasty? The country has been divided for so long that many people cannot imagine life after reunification. However, the orders of the Prime Minister's Office are absolute and no one in the court can violate them.
The Wu people had many spies in Luoyang. As soon as Guan Yu rushed back to Fancheng from Hanzhong, the Jianye court had already learned about it. When they heard that the Han army was sending troops southward, everyone in Wu Ting could not help but be frightened and nervous. Now that the war has begun, there is no turning back. This time it is no longer a contest between Wuxi Man and Lu Xun. With the addition of the Han army, the national destiny of the Wu people has also been put on the gambling table. If Lu Xun fails in the battle, it will not only be Jingzhou that will be lost.
Because of this, Sun Quan even ordered that the armies of Jiaozhou and Ningzhou be put under the command of Lu Xun. When the situation was urgent, he even sent out a barbarian army he had just received from Danyang, causing Lu Xun to be under the command of Jingzhou. There were more than 120,000 people. Although they were still at a disadvantage compared to the Han army, they were by no means invincible.
In August of the seventh year of Yanxi, the chariot general Zhang Fei took the lead in crossing the Jiangguan. An army of 70,000 troops officially entered Jingzhou at a speed of 60 miles a day.
