Zhang Xi raised the question, but Guan Yu didn't pay attention.
Guan Yu has his own ideas on these matters.
"Don't worry, Chief Yuan. Cao Cao will definitely not come to Wancheng in person." Guan Yu looked confident, stroking his beard and said to Zhang Xi, "The land of Wancheng is the foundation for Fancheng's support. How could I have no plan?" ?!”
Guan Yu has been thinking about the Battle of Xiangfan for six years. He indeed thinks more about many things than Zhang Xi.
In the past six years, Guan Yu has been using time and money to win people's hearts in places such as Jingbei and Nanyang. How could Guan Yu not be prepared for such an important place as Wancheng.
Of course, these preparations do not actually include the uprising of Geng Ji and Gibbon.
In other words, in fact, the uprising of Geng Ji and Ji Ben was just that they had Han Dynasty in mind and took the initiative to start the uprising, hoping to contact Guan Yu and seek help from Guan Yu. It was not an uprising that Guan Yu asked them to initiate.
If Guan Yu knew that there were still people in Xudu who were sympathizing with the Han Dynasty and were close to the emperor, he would definitely ask them to be patient for the time being and wait until Guan Yu occupied Xiangfan before revolting in order to succeed and bring the emperor to Jingzhou.
This is the biggest blow to Cao Cao and can completely destroy Cao Cao's political foundation.
Without the emperor in hand, Cao Cao, the king of Wei, really had no legitimacy at all and became a complete tyranny.
As for how the emperor will deal with it in the future, let’s talk about it. With Guan Yu’s political IQ, he probably never thought about such a complicated issue.
But now, this uprising has failed, and the chance of another uprising in the future will be very slim. Cao Cao will definitely clean up Xudu.
But, Guan Yu didn’t count on these people either.
There are some things that Guan Yu has prepared, but it is not suitable to tell too many people. But for Zhang Xi, there is no need for Guan Yu to hide it.
Hou Yin, the leader of Wancheng's wealthy clan, had been in contact with Guan Yu for a long time, and after Guan Yu raised his army, he had decided to rise up at the right time to respond to Guan Yu's military action.
This is Guan Yu's trump card.
As long as Wancheng is in chaos, it is absolutely impossible for Cao Cao to visit Wancheng in person. He will stay in Luoyang and dispatch reinforcements to rescue Fancheng.
This can buy Guan Yu enough time to respond to reinforcements. After all, the arrival time of reinforcements is different between sending reinforcements from Luoyang and sending reinforcements directly from Wancheng.
As for how to deal with Cao Jun’s military superiority and field combat capabilities.
"I have been thinking about how to defeat the enemy for a long time, and I have already found a clever plan." Guan Yu said to Zhang Xi proudly while stroking his beard, "I want to have the soldiers line up with their backs to the Han River, and use five thousand familiar mandarin ducks to form the formation. The soldiers are outside, set up chariot formations to defend against the enemy, and then swarm the central army with five thousand archers and crossbowmen. If the enemy is close, use bows and crossbows to attack them. If the enemy holds them, use water troops to transport supplies. That army is large, and our army is few. , and then attack when the enemy's food and grass supplies are not in good condition and their morale is low, we can defeat the enemy in one fell swoop."
Zhang Xi nodded frequently as he listened, feeling that Guan Yu's method was feasible but didn't know why. He just felt that this strategy seemed a bit familiar.
This is a warship, a chariot formation, and a crossbow. Why does it feel so familiar? !
Zhang Xi couldn't remember it for a while. It wasn't until he drew the formation method Guan Yu mentioned on paper that he discovered what it was.
Then Zhang Xi looked at Guan Yu and his eyes became weird.
Although, your sworn brother's ancestor is most likely to have a certain blood relationship with other people's ancestors, but you must not be related to them. Tell me, have you been ghosted by that kid Liu Yu? ? !
Isn't this the Queyue Formation? !
The Queyue Formation relies on the mobility of the navy and uses infantry to restrain the cavalry. So in history, did Liu Yu come up with the Queyue Formation by himself, or did he plagiarize it from Er Ye? !
Anyway, Zhang Xi thinks it’s a bit unclear now.
If the second master really used this tactic in the Battle of Xiangfan, then it's hard to say whether Liu Yu's Queyue Formation was original.
However, compared with Liu Yu's Queyue Formation, Er Ye's fighting method still lacked something, so Zhang Xi decided to add it to Er Ye.
Liu Yu's Queyue Formation was equipped with crossbows on boats. It could cross fire with the soldiers in the vehicle formation. At the same time, it could also use the mobility of the navy to maneuver along the river to attack the enemy.
Zhang Xi could not equip Guan Yu with bed crossbows at the moment, but asked Guan Yu's navy to prepare more pedal crossbows. Although it was more troublesome to operate, using pedal crossbows to kill enemies when cruising along the river was also a kind of effective measures.
Anyway, Cao Cao's naval army is rubbish, and no one can threaten the soldiers on the ship. No matter how troublesome it is to operate the crossbow, and no matter how weak the defense is, can Cao Cao's army still attack by swimming? !
When Guan Yu heard this, he thought it was a good idea. However, he still had to think a little about the operation and could not use it casually.
After all, the range of the crossbow is not too far. If it is not operated properly, it may hit one of your own people.
Then, Zhang Xi asked the second master if he had prepared extra cavalry. It didn't take much. As long as there were about two thousand cavalry, the Queyue formation would be completely perfect.
When the second master heard this, he glared at Zhang Xi angrily, and Zhang Xi understood instantly.
There is no cavalry. As long as there are cavalry, the second master will not want to use the Queyue Formation to fight the enemy.
Anyway, the second master already had a way to deal with Cao Jun, and this method was indeed effective, as Liu Yu testified.
That leaves one last question.
"How do you want to attack Fancheng?!" Zhang Xi said, "Fancheng was originally a fortress, and you once guarded it. You should know that this place is strong. After Red Cliff, Cao Cao ordered people to rebuild Fancheng's fortifications, which were still better than before. Fancheng defender Man Chong, although he is a scholar and a hard-working official, Ran Xi Wen Ting, he is also very knowledgeable in the art of war. If the prince wants to make him ask for help, it may be useless to attack the city in a regular way.?!"
"I am also in a dilemma about this matter!" Guan Yu thought for a moment, stroked his beard again, then looked at Zhang Xi and said, "We are marching into Xiangfan to attract Cao Cao's reinforcements, so Wancheng cannot be broken suddenly. However, this city is strong. If it is not a forceful attack, it may be difficult to capture the enemy, but if it is a forceful attack, it is inevitable that the soldiers will suffer heavy damage to the Yuan Zhang, is there any good strategy?!"
Is there a good way? Indeed there is.
Zhang Xi just wanted to see what Guan Yu planned to do.
After all, Guan Yu in history was the one who defeated Cao Cao by sending three batches of reinforcements, which shocked China. Zhang Xi also wanted to take the opportunity to learn and see the second master's siege methods.
But since the second master asked this, there was no good way to think about it, so there was no need for Zhang Xi to hide it. It seemed that Xiangfan's defense system would inevitably be attacked by a returning artillery fire.
Okay, you're going to suffer this sooner or later anyway, so why not let the second master come?
Zhang Xi took out his big weapon - a counterweight trebuchet.
Although the second master had never seen this thing with his own eyes, he had heard about it. It was said that Zhang Xi built more than a hundred counterweight trebuchets under the city of Chengdu. They smashed them for three days before Liu Zhang left the city and surrendered.
Well, rumors are spreading that Zhang Liao can go to Jiangdong to be the director of the zoo. This change is understandable.
After discussing the specific details of the attack, Erye established a water stronghold at the ferry near Yicheng as a logistics base. After the naval base was completed, he set out to attack Cao Jun's navy and clear the obstacles on the Han River.
Before the water stronghold was repaired, the second master temporarily stationed troops in Yicheng and prepared to attack Xiangyang, forcing the defenders in Xiangyang City to quickly ask for help from Cao Cao and delaying Cao Cao's westward advance.
As for Cao Cao, Cao Cao is indeed in Luoyang now. He is preparing to march westward and garrison Chang'an to support Xia Houyuan.
Cao Cao had already known about Guan Yu's attack on Xiangfan, and had already sent Cao Ren to lead reinforcements.
Cao Cao thought about it and felt that with the more than 30,000 defenders in Xiangyang and Fancheng, plus Cao Ren sent by himself, there would be a total of more than 40,000 people.
With Xiangfan's integrated defense system, Cao Ren, and Man Chong's abilities, not to mention defeating Guan Yu, but defending Xiangfan, it shouldn't be a big problem, right? !
Therefore, Cao Cao decided to continue to lead his army westward.
But before Cao Cao could lead his army to set off, he suddenly received two battle reports.
In one letter, Hou Yin of Wancheng raised an army to rebel on the grounds of Cao Cao's tyranny and immorality, and soon swept through most of Nanyang.
The reason was that Cao Ren's corvee collection in Wancheng was too heavy, which caused widespread complaints from the Wancheng family and the people.
However, Cao Ren only wanted to go to Xiangfan to defeat Guan Yu. He did not take any measures to appease him. Instead, he intensified the corvee levy. As a result, the local aristocratic families represented by Hou Yin could not bear it anymore and directly rebelled.
Of course, it is impossible for a person like Cao Cao to believe such superficial words.
To be honest, Cao Cao has been ruling Wancheng for almost 20 years. During these 20 years, Cao Cao's policies have been the same.
Why do these people usually not rebel, but rebelled when Guan Yu started to attack Xiangyang? !
If you want to say that this has nothing to do with Guan Yu, who will believe it?
Another thing is that Cao Cao's whole mentality has changed a lot since he became king of Wei. Wancheng is very close to Xudu, and Xudu just rebelled not long ago, and the rebels almost took him hostage. The emperor fled. Cao Cao's whole mentality was confused.
After learning about Hou Yin's rebellion, Cao Cao immediately ordered Cao Ren to stop attacking Guan Yu and return to his army to quell Hou Yin's rebellion.
Immediately afterwards, the second battle report arrived, from Hu Xiu.
Guan Yu led an army of 100,000 men, captured Yicheng, and threatened Xiangyang. Xiangyang was poorly defended, so he asked Cao Cao to send reinforcements quickly.
Cao Cao was so angry that he tore up the battle report.
Can Cao Cao not know how many people Guan Yu has in total? Hu Xiu and Lu Chang were simply frightened by Guan Yu.
But the military newspaper said that Guan Yu had captured Yicheng. This was indeed beyond Cao Cao's expectations. Guan Yu's advance was too fast.
Less than a month after the army was launched, they had already arrived at Xiangyang City.
If Guan Yu only attacks Xiangyang from the south bank of the Han River, Cao Cao is not worried. After all, Xiangfan's defense system is there. It would be a bad idea for Guan Yu to attack Xiangyang forcefully from the south bank of the Han River.
But Cao Cao didn't think Guan Yu would be that stupid.
Therefore, Cao Cao felt that reinforcements still had to be sent, but not to the two idiots Lu Chang and Hu Xiu in Xiangyang City, but to Man Chong who was stationed in Fancheng.
Cao Cao was still a little worried about letting Man Chong deal with Guan Yu.
What's more, Guan Yu also has a helper Zhang Xi.
This person is the one who made even the most talented people suffer in Badong County.
Even if he is not as good as Guan Yu, it may still be possible to contain Man Chong.
Therefore, reinforcements must be sent.
(End of chapter)
