Many people believe that Guan Yu's launch of the Battle of Xiangfan on the historical line was a self-righteous military action and a unilateral Northern Expedition. From this, they conclude that the second master's military capabilities and strategic vision are very poor.
But in fact, as long as you look through historical materials, you will know that Guan Yu's true purpose of attacking Xiangfan was actually to coordinate the Battle of Hanzhong, but things got out of control later.
Well, after all, the historical materials are boring and the records are relatively scattered. Many people are not willing to read them, but just ask a question - do you still remember "Longzhong Dui"? !
What are the prerequisites for the Northern Expedition in "Grand Duel"? !
Completely occupy Jing and Yi, waiting for the world to change.
At this time, the world has not changed at all. Cao Cao is still the powerful Cao Cao, and Sun Shiwan is still the Sun Shiwan who cannot conquer Hefei.
Another one, what is Zhuge Liang’s route plan for the Northern Expedition? !
Liu Bei led the people from Yizhou out of Qinchuan, and Guan Yu led the people from Jingzhou to Xiangwan and Luoyang. He didn't have them in his hands. How could he send troops to Wancheng and Luoyang? !
Therefore, Guan Yu's Battle of Xiangfan was really not a Northern Expedition. From a timeline perspective, it was a battle of support.
Even taking a step back, Guan Yu wanted to attack Xiangyang in order to complete Zhuge Liang's strategic policy of "occupying Han Miang in the north" planned in "Longzhong Dui", and it was not a Northern Expedition at all.
Moreover, it was really a good move for Guan Yu to send troops to Xiangfan to reduce the military pressure on Hanzhong during the Battle of Hanzhong. After all, Xiangyang was very close to the hinterland of the Central Plains, and Cao Cao could not ignore this threat.
In particular, the nominal Emperor of Han is in Xuchang. Although Cao Cao can do without this political sign now, he cannot hand him over to Liu Bei.
But the time to send troops to respond is actually not easy to grasp.
Due to the inconvenient transportation these days, messages could not be conveyed in a timely manner, so Guan Yu needed to judge when to send troops to Xiangfan to maximize the benefits.
Guan Yu could actually launch the Battle of Xiangfan before Liu Bei, and attract Cao Cao's troops in Guanzhong to support him in the Xiangyang area. This would make it much easier for Liu Bei to launch the Battle of Hanzhong.
Guan Yu thought this way from the beginning. He wanted to launch an attack on Xiangyang as soon as possible after this year's autumn harvest.
But the issue of food and grass is always an issue that cannot be circumvented.
The military rations are sufficient, but not much. Based on wartime calculations, they may only last a few months to half a year.
When attacking a strong city like Xiangyang, it is better to launch a battle in advance in order to attract the rescue of the main force of Cao's army. It is absolutely not enough to rely on about half a year's food reserves.
The geographical location of the hinterland of the Central Plains is too important. Once Guan Yu breaks through Xiangyang's defense line and threatens Luoyang, he can break into the Central Plains when advancing, and he can defend Xiangfan when retreating. Cao Cao's territory may be divided into two.
It is not impossible to contact Guanzhong. As long as Guanzhong and Liangzhou are not lost, Cao Cao can still contact Guanzhong through the Bingzhou Mountain Road, but after all, it is not as convenient as going through Sili and Sanfu, and it will be very difficult to mobilize troops.
Therefore, Cao Cao will definitely give full support to the Xiangfan defenders, and would even give up Hanzhong to ensure that Xiangfan is not lost.
Therefore, if Guan Yu launches the Battle of Xiangfan in advance, it is very likely that there will be a long-term confrontation with Cao Jun. However, Guan Yu's food reserves are not enough to complete such a long-term confrontation.
Another way to respond is that when the fight in Hanzhong is relatively stalemate, Guan Yu suddenly sends troops to Xiangfan.
At this time, most of Cao Cao's troops were in the Guanzhong area. Guan Yu's sudden attack on Xiangfan was likely to have an unexpected effect.
The importance of the hinterland of the Central Plains forced Cao Cao to consider both sides, fight on two fronts, and make a choice between Hanzhong and Xiangfan.
On this issue, anyone with a right mind and military knowledge would choose to defend Xiangfan.
After all, Hanzhong was lost, but it only gave Liu Bei a guarantee to defend Yizhou. Beyond Hanzhong, there are Qishan, Guanzhong, and Liangzhou. It is not so easy for Liu Bei to defeat them.
But once Xiangfan was lost, the entire hinterland of the Central Plains was exposed to Guan Yu.
In this way, Guan Yu can also achieve the purpose of containing Cao Cao's army and helping Liu Bei reduce pressure.
The advantage of this method is that Guan Yu can decide the time of advance and retreat independently, and does not need to confront Cao Jun for a long time. However, the disadvantage is that if Guan Yu does not grasp the opportunity well and attacks when he should not attack, and retreats when he should not retreat, it is likely to cause Liu Bei's defeat in Hanzhong.
After all, there were no telephones and telegraphs these days. It was impossible for Liu Bei to need Guan Yu to send troops today, so Guan Yu sent troops directly. The message was not transmitted that fast, and it was more a test of Guan Yu's ability to predict the current situation.
At this point, Guan Yu actually didn't have much confidence.
This kind of strategizing and decisive victory thousands of miles away, not to mention Guan Yu is not sure, even when Liu Bei comes, he is still numb. Probably only Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, Sima Yi and other few people have this ability.
And this requires a lot of intelligence for analysis and judgment.
But now, Liu Bei's letter was very hasty. The letter from August told Guan Yu that he planned to raise troops in October and left only such a small amount of time for Guan Yu to plan a campaign to attack Xiangfan. Guan Yu was even more embarrassed and anxious.
Therefore, Guan Yu could only find Zhang Xi, and the two of them thought about what to do about this matter.
Xu Shu was guarding the barbarians in Wuling County, and Wenpin was in the public security guarding Jiangdong. The two men could not leave for a while. Ma Liang's political skills were extremely good, but for this kind of military operation, he could only sit in the rear and be responsible for food and grass. Just transportation.
Guan Yu looked at the assistant officers in Jingzhou and found that only Zhang Xi seemed to be able to help think of something.
Zhang Xi, it seems, actually has a lot of worries about this matter.
In Xiangyang, a fight should be fought. After all, it was the Lord who gave the order.
But how to fight and when to fight, Zhang Xi is still a little unsure.
After all, in the historical Battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu was able to gain the reputation of "powerful China". In addition to his own ability and preparation, the weather also helped a lot.
But now the historical line has changed. This year is only the 21st year of Jian'an, not the 24th year of Jian'an. The heavy rain that caused the entire Han River to surge might not happen.
Without the help of Tianshi, Guan Yu would never have been able to overwhelm the Seventh Army. Then he would have to fight hard.
There are good and bad things about this.
Needless to say, the disadvantages are that facing Xiangyang and Fancheng, two strong cities that rely on each other, and with Cao Cao's full support, the difficulty of conquering Xiangfan instantly increased a lot, and the reinforcements sent by Cao Cao had to be defeated in a field battle. Don't expect anything like the Yan Qi Army.
The advantage is that it can prevent Guan Yu from hitting the head and fight to the death.
In the historical Battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu was to relieve the pressure on Liu Bei who was confronting Cao Cao in Hanzhong.
But Guan Yu probably didn't expect that Cao Cao would give up Hanzhong so resolutely, nor did he expect that a heavy rain would allow him to flood seven armies without any blood. He suffered almost no losses and directly killed more than 30,000 reinforcements led by Yu Jin who were rescuing Xiangfan. .
The situation is so good. Seeing that Xiangfan and Xiangfan can be captured with more efforts, no one will give up easily.
Originally it was just for containment, but Guan Yu turned into the main attacker. When the Battle of Hanzhong was over, he stayed under Xiangfan City for too long and wanted to conquer Xiangyang.
And then...well, everyone knows the result.
Therefore, this matter is not without its benefits. At least it can make Guan Yu clearly distinguish the priorities. The attack on Xiangfan is just a support in the end.
Therefore, Zhang Xi's advice to Guan Yu is to wait, at least until after the autumn harvest, and then decide whether to send troops to Xiangfan based on the battle situation in Hanzhong.
On the one hand, new grains can be put on the market after the autumn harvest. Based on the growth of new seedlings this year, it should still be a good harvest year, which can increase the government's grain and grass reserves.
On the other hand, if Hanzhong's attack goes smoothly, then Guan Yu may not need to invade Xiangfan.
After all, we are just supporting, there is no need to steal the limelight from the Lord.
After listening to Zhang Xi's suggestion, Guan Yu stared at Zhang Xi, motionless, just like the statue in Guandi Temple.
Although Zhang Xi is still a little scared, don't forget that in the entire "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, Zhang Xi remembers one sentence: Soldiers are important matters of the country, the place of life and death, and the way of survival. They must be observed.
This sentence is the only one that Zhang Xi remembers, and it is also the sentence that Zhang Xi has felt the most over the years.
Even if you keep glaring at me, we cannot give in easily to something like this that concerns the safety of tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of people.
Zhang Xi actually knew what Guan Yu was thinking - the second master really wanted to be a veritable governor of Xiangyang.
But the matter in Xiangyang is really not that simple. With the current power of the entire Jingzhou, it is impossible for one state to carry a country. He, Cao Cao, is not the silly Baitian like Zhu Yunwen, so he still needs to act cautiously.
What's more, the neighbors to the east are not very peaceful.
So, this time Zhang Xi was stubborn and refused to let go. He insisted on waiting at least until after the autumn harvest.
And after the autumn harvest, it doesn't mean that Guan Yu will send troops immediately. We still have to wait for Liu Bei's progress in Hanzhong to judge when to send troops. As for how to send troops, who will go with the army to fight, and who will stay in Jingzhou to organize defense and logistics, these all need to be discussed again.
Zhang Xi's suggestion was to wait until after the autumn harvest and summon Pan Jun, Xu Shu, Wenpin and others to Jiangling to attend a military meeting.
The second master was not very satisfied, but Zhang Xi insisted so much that the second master could not do anything.
After all, the second master could not send troops to attack without sufficient support.
The current second master is no longer the general who charged into battle under Liu Bei's tent before. He is guarding one side alone, not only to ensure the peace of one side, but also to devote all his energy to his eldest brother's cause, and he cannot do whatever he wants.
Anyway, there were still about two months left, and the second master still had some patience. He decided to follow Zhang Xi's advice and wait for the time being.
By the way, Zhang Xi was asked to urge Zhang Ni to pay close attention to ore mining. Recently, the army's coal and iron ore have been insufficient.
Well, this is about it, um, just push it.
(End of chapter)
