Zhou Yu now has very mixed feelings about Liu Bei.
Liu Bei was a man who suffered repeated defeats from north to south, but he was still regarded as a hero by the people of the world.
Liu Bei, a man from a feudal lord, became a sojourner, but he could still convince Generals Guan and Zhang to never leave him, and Zhao Yun to join him from thousands of miles away.
Liu Bei. What the hell is so good about this person? !
There is Zhuge Liang who can come up with a complete set of battle plans in an instant, and there is Zhang Xi who seems to be both civil and military. Nowadays, any counselor who comes around has an excellent strategic vision. How does he do it? !
Before Xu Shu talked with Zhou Yu, Zhou Yu only thought that this was someone like Sun Qian and Jian Yong, who was just a staff member around Liu Bei who handled paperwork.
But Xu Shu's first words made Zhou Yu realize that this Xu Shu was not simple.
"The governor wants to pacify Nanjun, so I'm afraid it won't help if I just borrow generals." Xu Shu smiled and said to Zhou Yu, "The two combined armies only number 40,000 to 50,000, and in Jiangling City, Cao Ren probably has more than 20,000 men. The commander's strength is This is one of the shortcomings. The army east of the Yangtze River is not used to land warfare and is not good at attacking cities. This is the second reason. The governor came across the river from a long distance, and all the food and grass were taken by water. From Chaisang to Jiangling, the road is very long. This is the third reason. . With these three disadvantages, the commander-in-chief will always be able to trap Cao Ren for a while, and he may not be able to conquer Jiangling, and sooner or later he will run out of food and retreat."
Zhou Yu's face suddenly became serious.
This Xu Shu, from the very beginning, mentioned the three major difficulties Zhou Yu was facing now. His vision could be said to be very vicious, much stronger than that of Jian Yong, Sun Qian and others.
What Xu Shu said was actually known to Zhou Yu. As the commander-in-chief of an army, it was impossible for Zhou Yu to not even have this ability.
To be honest, when Zhou Yu first entered the army, he did not expect Jiangling City to be so difficult to defeat.
At that time, Cao Cao was newly defeated in Chibi and fled north in a hurry. At this time, Jingzhou's defense could be said to be the weakest.
One, Cao Cao was defeated and the morale of the Jingzhou defenders was low. The second was that Cao Cao brought the main force of the Jingzhou army to Chibi. The Jingzhou army suffered heavy losses after a fire. At this time, there were insufficient troops everywhere in Jingzhou.
If we march into Nanjun at this time, the best outcome would be that Nanjun surrenders without a fight, and the worst outcome would be to lose some troops to attack the city.
But Zhou Yu didn't expect that Cao Ren could gather so many soldiers defending the city in such a short period of time. Moreover, after Cao Ren led dozens of cavalry into the formation and rescued Niu Jin alone, Cao Ren's heroic performance aroused the depression of the city defenders. morale.
Another thing, Zhou Yu did not expect that Cao Ren actually had a cavalry available, which caused the Jiangdong Army's several offensive attacks to be unfavorable and strengthened the determination of the Jiangling defenders to wait for reinforcements.
Now comes the problem.
Different from when Zhou Yu first entered the army, the current Jiangling defenders and Cao Ren had the confidence to hold on. However, Zhou Yu was hampered by the lack of troops and generals' siege experience, and for a while he really had nothing to do against Jiangling.
Jiangling, as the seat of Nanjun, has a strong city with sufficient food and military strength. Even if it is completely besieged, it is estimated that it can last for several months.
But Jiangling couldn't surround him at all.
To the north of Jiangling is Xiangyang. Once people are sent to the north of Jiangling to capture the city and cut off the supply line from Xiangyang to Jiangling, it means that this army will be encircled and suppressed from Xiangyang.
The further north you go, the closer you are to Cao Cao's base camp, the more troops there can come to support.
And as Xu Shu said, supply lines are also a problem.
Jiangdong's supply line takes the Yangtze River waterway. As an ally, Liu Bei will not interfere with Zhou Yu's supply line for the time being.
But if people are sent to the north of Nanjun, then the supply line of this army will be cut off by Nanjun, and only Jiangxia in the east, right? !
Zhou Yu suddenly came to his senses.
Xu Shu suddenly analyzed to himself that Jiangling City was difficult to capture, and even cited one, two or three. Could it be that he wanted to send people to cut off Cao's army's supply line to the north of Jiangling? !
If Liu Beijun is willing to take on this responsibility, Zhou Yu would of course be more than happy.
But can Liu Bei be so kind? !
Therefore, Zhou Yu asked tentatively, "Yu is also troubled by this, but Mr. No Good Ideas can see through Yu's predicament, but he doesn't know what tips he can teach me?!"
Xu Shu really didn't realize that it was Zhou Yu's temptation for a while, so he said, "Why should the governor deceive me? Although Jiangling is difficult to conquer, it is not impossible to encircle. Why don't the governor send a general to the north of Nanjun to cut off its northern route and Xiangyang?" , Jiangling is connected, so Jiangling is an isolated city. The governor does not need to attack it by force, but only needs to besiege it. In a few months, Jiangling will definitely run out of food and be destroyed."
Sure enough, just as he thought, Xu Shu also came up with the idea of Juebei Road.
Zhou Yu had not considered the matter of Juebei Road, but in the end he rejected it.
Because Zhou Yu believed that the Juebei Road was not feasible.
One is the issue of food and grass supply just now.
Jiangdong transports grain along the Yangtze River and passes through Jiangxia. Fortunately, at least the fleet transporting grain is under his control.
But if you want to go to Juebei Road, then Jiangxia's grain and grass transportation must pass through Jiangxia, and even if Jiangxia is an alliance, Liu Bei cannot allow your army to pass through Jiangxia casually, right? !
And the other, and most critical question - Zhou Yu really couldn't think of any of the Jiangdong Army generals who could achieve the true Juebei Road.
The matter of Juebei Road itself is very risky.
Send people deep into the northern part of Nanjun to cut off Xiangyang's support for Jiangling. This means that this unit often goes deep behind enemy lines and fights alone. It will not have any support. It has to rely on itself to face people from Xiangyang in the north, and even you. The Cao army in the south threatened.
This requires the generals of this army to have very high command capabilities and courage. They need to make their own choices and judgments when facing pressure from Cao Jun. They must not only complete the task of Juebei Road, but also withstand the pressure of Cao Jun's attack. , to preserve one's own combat effectiveness.
Anyway, Zhou Yu looked around Jiangdong generals, and it seemed that except for going to Juebei Road himself, there really was no general who could complete such a task.
Furthermore, Juebei Road also needs to send troops. The number cannot be too many, otherwise movement will be inconvenient, but it cannot be less. Without it, the enemy will be easily defeated and the mission will not be completed.
At least, there need to be four to five thousand people to go to Juebei Road.
However, Zhou Yu currently does not have enough troops on hand to be able to besiege Jiangling City. If he divides his troops to go to Juebei Road, he will be a little busy.
Due to the above considerations, Zhou Yu rejected his idea of defeating the North Road.
But it's different now. This plan for the North Road was proposed by Liu Beijun.
Liu Beijun has such conditions.
For the supply of grain and grass, Liu Beijun could transport it through the Han River and take Hanjinkou to the north of Nanjun.
Anyway, after Cao Cao's defeat in Chibi, there was no navy left, and Jiang Xia's army ruled the Han River.
Liu Bei's army should have the strength, and it would be a waste just to defend Jiangxia. Zhou Yu would be very happy to see it consume more of Liu Bei's strength.
Isn't General Liu Beijun Guan Yu? This is a famous general recognized by Cao Cao.
Of course, the most important thing is that Liu Beijun went to Juebei Road. If it succeeded, it would be very beneficial to Zhou Yu's attack on Jiangling, but if it failed, it would be Liu Beijun who would lose, not Jiangdong.
Zhou Yu's thoughts flashed through his mind for a moment, and then he looked distressed and said to Liu Bei and Xu Shu, "Mr. Xu's words are reasonable, but... Well, I have seen all the generals in Jiangdong, most of them are mediocre people, and I am afraid they are not capable of taking on such a big responsibility." General! It’s better not to say anything about Juebei Road!"
Liu Bei looked at Zhou Yu and then at Xu Shu. I won't say anything and will just watch you two acting.
Xu Shu couldn't trick his own lord anyway, so there was a high probability that Xu Shu was plotting to trick Zhou Yu.
But looking at Zhou Yu's appearance, he seemed quite happy to be cheated.
When Xu Shu saw Zhou Yu's distress, he frowned slightly, as if he didn't want to see his strategy not being adopted, and said eagerly, "Don't worry, Governor. Since the Governor thought of borrowing a general, wouldn't he know the reputation of General Guan?" The famous generals in the world are very good at guerrilla warfare, as was the case when the white horse killed Yan Liang. Why doesn't the governor ask General Guan to come out and defeat the southern and northern roads?!"
Zhou Yu had an epiphany and said, "Why didn't I expect that?" He was about to speak, but he glanced at Liu Bei and said, "Well, this matter is extremely dangerous. General Guan is Liu Shijun's brother. How can he do anything for Jiangdong?" It’s easy to get into danger.”
This was true, and Liu Bei had no choice but to speak.
"Why did Governor Zhou say this? The two alliances are working together to defeat Cao Cao. How can we differentiate between you and me?!"
Although I don’t know what the drama between you two is about, but what you Zhou Yu said is the "Jiangdong incident". Could it be that you plan to capture Nanjun and annex it to yourself in the future? !
You must know that we have also contributed, not only sending troops and generals, but now we are also helping you deal with the camp outside Jiangling City.
Why are you going to turn your back and deny it so soon? !
When Liu Bei said this, Zhou Yu immediately confessed, and then said, "Since it is an alliance, I will help Liu Shijun to send General Guan to lead his troops to conquer the North Road. When the success is achieved, General Guan will be the first to do it!"
No, it doesn’t matter if it’s the first time or not. The key is, what are the benefits of the first time? !
You can't let us work for you for free, right? !
Of course Zhou Yu also knew that it was impossible, so he said to Liu Bei, "If General Guan can really defeat the North Road and capture Nanjun in the future, the southeastern counties will belong to Xuande Gong, and the rest will belong to Jiangdong, can you?!"
Right, this is what allies should be like.
Nanjun is to the west of Jiangxia, and several counties in the southeast of Nanjun happen to border Jingling. This can be considered an expansion of the territory.
As for county-governed cities or fortresses like Jiangling, Liu Bei also knew that Jiangdong would not let go easily, and he would not be disappointed if there was no hope.
Zhou Yu immediately finalized a verbal agreement with Liu Bei, and discussed the details of sending troops with Liu Bei.
When it was time to discuss how to send troops, Xu Shu spoke again.
"The matter of cutting off the North Road should be done sooner rather than later. When Generals Guan and Zhang return to camp, we will break out of camp and set off. We will return to Jiangxia first, go up the Han River, and head to the north of Nanjun."
Zhou Yu heard that this is not possible. I haven’t borrowed the general yet? !
Without a general who is good at siege, if you rely solely on your own soldiers and generals, even if you besiege a city, it will not be practical.
"It's not easy for Mr. Xuande to come a long way, why should he leave so early?!" Zhou Yu quickly stopped him and said.
You can leave, but leave Zhang Fei and the soldiers behind!
"Jiangxia has few soldiers, and all the elites are here. If we don't withdraw our troops, how will we have the troops to move north?!" Xu Shu also sighed and explained to Zhou Yu.
There are only a few of us. Is it possible that you still want us to fight on two fronts? !
"In that case," Zhou Yu thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you ask General Zhang Fei and Yuan Chang to lead a thousand soldiers to stay, and Yu will send another 2,000 Jiangdong soldiers to follow General Guan and go north to Juebei Road?!"
Xu Shu was happy.
"But it depends on the command of the governor!"
Okay, it's done.
(End of chapter)
