The Battle of Hanzhong is in full swing, and on the land of Jingzhou, Guan Yu has officially raised his troops to attack Xiangfan.
Before sending troops, Guan Yu made arrangements for the army led by Zhang Xi to set off first, while he led the navy to go north through Jiangxia territory.
Because I want to greet Sun Quan well to avoid misunderstandings between the two parties, I will set off a little later.
After receiving the order, Zhang Xi took Zhang Ni as the vanguard and led 15,000 men to march to Linju in the northwest. When passing through Zhijiang County, he enlisted Zhou Tai, the magistrate of Zhijiang County, as a school captain to accompany the army on the expedition. .
There is no way. In Jingzhou, there are a lot of political and civil officials, and all of them are first-line or quasi-first-line civil servants, but there are really not many military generals.
Guan Yu at least still has Guan Ping and Liao Hua in his hands. Zhang Xi only has Zhang Yi to use.
Therefore, when passing by Zhijiang County, Zhang Xi remembered that the magistrate of Zhijiang County was named Zhou Tai, and he had a good relationship with Zhao Lei. After the locust plague last year, Zhou Tai was promoted from county lieutenant to county magistrate. Now spring plowing After that, Zhang Xi thought that there was nothing important for the time being, so he took Zhou Tai with him and asked him to join the army and make meritorious service.
After all, Zhou Tai was a general from a humble family and was able to make a name for himself in the later period of Cao Wei. This proved that his ability was definitely not bad.
In the late Cao Wei Dynasty, all civil and military affairs were dominated by aristocratic families. It was absolutely impossible for a poor family to stand out without some real ability.
Zhou Tai didn't object. After all, Zhou Tai and Zhao Lei had different preferences. Zhao Lei favored literature and Zhou Tai favored martial arts. If it weren't for direct promotion from above, Zhou Tai felt that it would be good for him to be a county captain.
Now that he had the opportunity to join the army, Zhou Tai accepted it without even thinking, intending to work hard to gain a reputation in the army.
After Zhou Tai joined, Zhang Xi asked him to lead a thousand men first and march quickly to seize Linju.
And Zhoutai lived up to Zhang Xi's expectations, arriving at Linju within ten days and capturing the city northwest of Jiangling within one day.
To be honest, in Linju, Zhou Tai's ability is really outstanding, and he can capture a city in one day.
But it's because, Linju, this place, is now a no-nonsense zone.
Linju theoretically falls under the jurisdiction of Xiangyang, but it is too close to Jiangling.
When Le Jin was in Xiangyang in the early days, he was still engaged in a back-and-forth tug-of-war with Guan Yu in Linju, and for a while no one could do anything about the other.
But as Guan Yu moved the front north bit by bit, Xiangyang's control over Linju became weaker and weaker.
Later, Le Jin was transferred to assist Zhang Liao in guarding Hefei, and Xiangyang was handed over to the care of Hu Xiu, the governor of Jingzhou, and Lu Chang, the prefect of Zhangling. Linju was slowly abandoned by the two of them.
Although it was still Cao Cao's territory in name, this place didn't even have half of Cao Cao's army. It was actually an empty city.
In order to avoid overly irritating the Cao army in Xiangyang, Guan Yu did not take Linju into his pocket and let it maintain its superficial position. He only controlled the passage outside Linju city in his own hands. If necessary, he could use it at any time. Capture the city.
Therefore, Zhoutai's attack on Linju was not a great achievement. It was just a quick march to seize the empty city.
Zhang Xi knew this, and Zhou Tai also understood it. No one was complacent just because they captured Linju.
After resting for three days in Linju, Zhang Xi left two thousand soldiers to guard Linju, and then continued to set off. However, this time instead of continuing westward to attack Fangling, he made a false shot and suddenly advanced eastward to Dangyang County.
Dangyang County was already a city under Guan Yu's control, so there was no need to attack. Zhang Xi only marched to Dangyang. The real trouble was to go north to attack Yicheng.
At the same time, Zhang Xi also received Guan Yu's military report.
Now Guan Yu has reorganized his navy, starting from Jiangling, along the Han River, passing through Jiangxia, detouring northward, and attacking Xiangyang.
At the same time, he also agreed with Zhang Xi in the letter that the two parties would meet in Yicheng and agree on the specific time and strategy for attacking Xiangfan in the future.
Guan Yu has already set off. Even if he goes upstream by water, he will definitely be faster than Zhang Xi by land.
After all, there are no obstacles on the water. Cao Cao really has no decent navy in Jingzhou. On the contrary, there are still many counties and fortresses on land. If Zhang Xi wants to march on land, he will inevitably have to attack the city.
The closer he got to Xiangyang, the less Zhang Xi dared to be careless.
As Zhang Xi led more than 10,000 infantry to Dangyang County and began to march north to attack Yicheng, Hu Xiu, the governor of Jingzhou and Lu Chang, the prefect of Zhangling, appointed by Cao Cao, also responded.
Although Hu Xiu is the governor of Jingzhou and the nominal leader of Jingzhou, he is mainly a civilian official, used to handle government affairs. Although he has a high official position, he is completely ignorant of military strategy.
Therefore, the person who actually led the troops to rescue Yicheng and fight against Zhang Xi was actually Lu Chang, the prefect of Zhangling.
Lü Chang, the whole Battle of Xiangfan can be said to be a gathering of famous generals, but Lü Chang is just a little transparent.
However, Lu Chang held on to Xiangyang in the early stage. After Hu Xiu, the governor of Jingzhou, chose to surrender, he still returned to Fancheng and held on. To a certain extent, he was quite loyal.
It's just that, loyalty is loyalty, and it's hard to evaluate military capabilities.
When Zhang Xi arrived at Yicheng, Lu Chang had only arrived not long ago, and he didn't even have time to reinforce the city's defenses.
Zhang Xi was puzzled. The distance between Xiangyang and Yicheng is only a quarter of the distance from Dangyang County to Yicheng, right? !
Lu Chang led an army of 10,000 people on the march, and it was supposed to be seven or eight days later. Zhang Xi led more than 10,000 people, starting from Dangyang County, and spent about 20 days marching to Yicheng. The prefect of Zhangling has just arrived?
Could it be that he brought 100,000 people? !
What a joke, if Lu Chang has 100,000 people in his hands, what Zhang Xi has to do now is to stick to Dangyang and ask Guan Yu for help.
Zhang Xi really had great doubts about the military ability of Zhang Ling Prefect.
To be honest, when Zhang Xi set out from Dangyang County, he was already prepared for a tough battle in Yicheng.
After all, Yicheng is too close to Xiangyang, and there are more than 30,000 defenders in Xiangyang City. Even if one-third is allocated to defend Yicheng, it is enough for Zhang Xi to drink a pot.
Another thing, Zhang Xi goes north and enters the control area of Xiangyang. Along the way, he will inevitably encounter some places such as Chengzi Pass. These places will definitely be guarded by Cao soldiers. Zhang Xi has no way to compete with Xiangyang for time. Who cares? Can seize Yicheng first.
But this thing is outrageous.
Along the way to Zhang Xi, we rarely encountered many cities that were guarded. In some villages, we couldn't even see a ghost, let alone organized resistance from Cao's army.
Well, Zhang Xi can blame this on the long-term confrontation between Xiangyang and Nanjun, which caused the people on the border to flee. Cao's small group of soldiers did not dare to provoke Zhang Xi's army head-on, so the march was so smooth.
But what is the situation of this Yicheng and this guard Lu Chang? !
Zhang Xi didn't understand, but since he arrived at the city, Zhang Xi didn't dare to be careless. He first set up camp according to the regulations, and then ordered people to build siege equipment. First, he built some hook ladders and ladders, so that Zhang Ni could launch a tentative attack.
Although I don't know what Lu Chang's plot is, probing attacks are always necessary. If you don't attack, how will you know if the other party is playing tricks on you?
However, Zhang Xi himself still feels that since he can be the governor of a place, he must have certain abilities.
Even if he is not good at military affairs, there should be no problem in taking advantage of defending a city.
Then Zhang Xi miscalculated.
A thousand soldiers led by Zhang Ni launched a tentative attack on Yicheng. The offensive method was limited to climbing the city wall with hooks and ladders. Yicheng was breached.
Broken? !
Yes, Zhang Xi looked at Zhang Yi leading his soldiers to climb the city wall first, and then quickly opened the city gate, and he suddenly doubted his own eyes.
By the way, how long has this fight lasted? ! Is there two hours? !
Maybe not!
Such a smooth attack and such a smooth opening of the city gate made Zhang Xi a little suspicious.
Zhang Xi strongly suspected that there was something like an urn city in Yicheng. It was so easy to attack the city wall because the enemy coach personally led the army into the city in order to make him careless, and then shot himself into a hedgehog in the urn city.
But this is not logical either.
Wengcheng is a backup line of defense after the first city gate is lost. It itself is not used to set up an ambush. If the first line of defense is abandoned so easily, how can the enemy coach know that he will be the first to enter the city? !
Zhang Xi doubted whether this was a plot by the enemy, but what if it was true? !
The soldiers finally climbed up the city wall, killed the guards, ran down the city tower and opened the city gate. If they didn't seize the city gate quickly, wait until the enemy reacted, sent people to seize the city gate, and then closed the city gate. This opportunity was wasted.
Zhang Xi hesitated for a moment, but decided to go to the city.
However, Zhang Xi did not take the lead. Instead, he asked Zhou Tai to lead the Chinese army to take over the city defense first. At the same time, he told Zhou Tai to be careful and retreat quickly if there was an ambush.
Then, Zhang Xi sent an order to Zhang Yi not to rush in. After joining Zhou Tai, the two of them entered the city together. They focused on checking whether there were tunnels or urn structures in the city to avoid falling into a trap.
In less than a quarter of an hour, Zhang Yi sent his own soldiers to report to Zhang Xi, saying that there was no ambush in the city, and there were no barbicans or tunnel structures. Now Zhang Yi had already attacked from the south city gate to the north. The city gate encountered no obstacles and completely controlled the entire city.
As soon as Zhang Xi heard this, he quickly asked his rear army to follow him, and quickly entered the city to take over the defense. At the same time, he ordered Zhang Ni to quickly lead his troops to pursue Lu Chang, trying to keep Lu Chang and the army he led.
But Zhang Yi pursued Lu Chang all the way and captured many Cao soldiers, but he never caught up with Lu Chang.
Although Lu Chang was very slow when he marched, his escape speed was really fast. Zhang Yi didn't catch up with him, so he ran back to Xiangyang.
Well, it doesn’t matter anymore.
After Zhang Xi entered the city, he first made announcements to pacify the people, then strengthened the city's defense structure. At the same time, he sent people to the ferry to contact Guan Yu's navy and waited for Guan Yu to lead his army into the city.
(End of chapter)
