Reinforcements must be sent, but who will lead the army needs to be carefully considered. After all, the opponent is Guan Yu.
Cao Cao and Cao Pi are different. Cao Pi has a childish mentality. He always feels that his relatives are trying to harm him, so he is wary of clan generals.
The people Cao Cao trusted the most were the generals of the Cao clan.
But now, Cao Chun died of illness, Cao Ren went to Wancheng to suppress Hou Yin's rebellion, Cao Hong stood firm at Chencang Road, along with two juniors, Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen, Xia Houyuan was guarding Hanzhong, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Dun, let's forget it, on weekdays When fighting bandits, the guarding side is a good player, but when facing Guan Yu, he is just delivering food.
The older generation of generals of the Cao clan are all fighting abroad. The younger generation Xia Houshang and others are still young, and they will not be able to compete with the battle-hardened Guan Yu even if they can barely lead the army.
Then we can only look for it from generals with foreign surnames.
Zhang Liao and Yue Jin resisted Sun Huan in Hefei, and could not move against Sun Yu's attack.
Xu Huang and Zhang He were helping Xia Houyuan in Hanzhong, but they couldn't move.
Li Dian has died of illness.
Among the five good generals, only one Yu Jin is still by his side.
Cao Cao thought about it in his mind for a while, and then decided to let Yu Jin lead 30,000 troops, divide them into seven armies, bypass Wancheng, go to Fancheng, and cooperate with Fancheng guard Man Chong to attack Guan Yu.
Although Yu Jin rarely led troops on the battlefield in recent years, Cao Cao was still deeply impressed by Yu Jin's ability to turn the tide in Wancheng. Cao Cao was still relieved to let Yu Jin lead troops on the battlefield.
However, given that Yu Jin himself was rigorous in running the army but not known for his martial prowess, Cao Cao thought that he would have to give Yu Jin a deputy general who could charge into battle.
After much deliberation, Cao Cao was torn between Xu Chu and his son Cao Zhang.
Xu Chu, needless to say, was his own guard. During the Battle of Tongguan, Ma Chao was so awesome that he didn't take the initiative to ask if Xu Chu was there.
Cao Zhang is the most outstanding in martial arts among his children. He already has a lot of prestige in the army at a young age. Originally, Cao Cao planned to send Cao Zhang to the north to train for a while. Now Liu Bei is attacking Hanzhong. Cao Cao thought about it and asked Cao Zhang to follow him to see the world and show off to his old rivals that he had a good son.
But now, I need to score one to help Yu Jin.
After much thought, Cao Cao realized that although his son had a noble status, he was still too junior.
Because of his noble status, he was worried that his son would serve as a lieutenant for Yu Jin, but Yu Jin would not be able to command him.
Because his qualifications were too low, he was worried that Cao Zhang would make his own decisions, disobey the commander-in-chief's arrangements, and act without permission, causing catastrophe.
After all, the opponent is Guan Yu, not an ordinary person. Cao Cao is the person who best understands Guan Yu's ability to command troops besides Liu Bei.
Therefore, Cao Cao decided to send Xu Chu to follow Yu Jin to rescue Xiangyang.
On the one hand, Cao Cao highly recognized Xu Chu's martial arts, and he also had many years of experience in the army. Although he had always been protecting him, Xu Chu could learn a lot from how he handled military affairs even if he was just watching. To the point.
On the other hand, Xu Chu has been with him for so many years. Although he cannot lead an army due to lack of ability, as a deputy general, Cao Cao thinks it is still possible. Let him make more contributions so that he, the "Tiger Marquis", can The call is more justified.
Since Ma Chao asked "Is the Tiger Marquis here" at the negotiation table during the confrontation at Tongguan, Xu Chu's name as "The Tiger Marquis" spread throughout the army.
But Xu Chu is not Hou after all.
According to the regulations of the Han Dynasty, there is no marquis without merit, and there is no king except Liu.
Although Cao Cao himself broke the rule of not being Liu or the king, but Cao Cao did not intend to break the rule of no reward for no merit.
So, Cao Cao felt that he should let Xu Chu follow Yu Jin to rescue Xiangyang. On the one hand, the experienced Yu Jin would see that Xu Chu would not do anything bad. On the other hand, he could also take this opportunity to let Xu Chu get some credit. If he could attack If Guan Yu retreats, then it would make sense for Cao Cao to grant Xu Chuzhen the title of Tiger Marquis.
In this way, Cao Cao ordered Xu Chu to send troops to rescue Xiangyang with Yu Jin.
At this time, outside Xiangyang City, in the Yicheng area, Guan Yu and Zhang Xi, who were stationed here, also received a battle report.
This battle report came from Liu Bei in Hanzhong.
Not good news either.
Liu Bei sent Gao Xiang to lead an army to cooperate with Wei Yan to attack Zhang He. The attack lasted for more than a month and cost a lot of casualties, but still failed to break through Zhang He's guarded Guangshi. Xu Huang also got rid of Chen Shi's entanglement many times and assisted Zhang He in time. , and the two sides fell into a stalemate in the direction of Guangshi.
Seeing that his efforts were in vain, Liu Bei had no choice but to order Wei Yan, Chen Shi, and Gao Xiang to join forces and set up camp nearby to confront Zhang He to prevent Zhang He from threatening his food routes.
Liu Bei confronted Xia Houyuan in front of Yangping Pass for almost half a year. After several attacks, he still could not break through Xia Houyuan's defense head-on.
Liu Bei had no choice but to ask for reinforcements from Zhuge Liang, who was in Chengdu. At the same time, he wrote to Guan Yu, asking him to launch the Battle of Xiangfan in the near future. He must delay Cao Cao's westward advance and give him time to buy reinforcements.
Liu Bei's order arrived, Guan Yu also repaired the water stronghold, and immediately began to attack Xiangfan according to Liu Bei's order.
In Yicheng, Zhang Xi left Zhou Tai and three thousand troops to guard the city. As long as Xiangyang did not send a large army south, there was no need to pay attention to them.
Then, Zhang Xi took the remaining 10,000 soldiers on board Guan Yu's warship, went north along the Han River, and went to attack the water stronghold set up by Cao Jun behind Fancheng.
This battle was personally commanded by Guan Yu.
There is no way, with the death of Chen Ju, the former commander of the navy of Jingzhou Army a few years ago, now the only people in Jingzhou who understand navy tactics are Wenpin and Guan Yu. Wenpin cannot come, so Guan Yu, the commander of the first army, can only take command personally. Naval combat.
Let me tell you something, Cao Jun's navy is really bad.
Facing the enemy on the river, they were almost defeated at the first touch, but the remaining naval forces retreated back to the water stronghold and could not stand out. After being suppressed by Guan Yu with arrows, he sent out fire ships and burned the water stronghold cleanly.
This time, Cao Jun did not have an iron chain link. After the water stronghold caught fire, most of Cao Jun's warships evacuated the water stronghold.
However, Cao Jun's navy had a small number of warships, and without the protection of the water stronghold, it was impossible for those warships to defeat Guan Yu's navy on the river. Soon they either surrendered or the ships were burned, and Guan Yu easily defeated them. Cao Jun's navy.
In the meantime, Fancheng guard Man Chong once tried to send archers to the shore to assist the water stronghold. However, after being suppressed by a hail of arrows from the Jingzhou Navy, he no longer dared to approach the water stronghold.
When fighting along the waterfront, the maneuverability of naval warships is extremely high, and archers on land cannot effectively threaten the navy. After Man Chong realized this, he gave up supporting the navy.
With that kind of troops, it would be better to retreat to Fancheng and wait for reinforcements.
Anyway, Guan Yu can't put the wheels on the warship, so he can go ashore and attack the city.
So, Man Chong stood firm in Fancheng and waited for Cao Cao's reinforcements to arrive.
Man Chong did this, but Guan Yu was a little helpless.
Although the Queyue Formation is good, it still requires the opponent to take the initiative to attack. If Man Chong cannot hold on, the power of the Queyue Formation will not be unleashed.
If this is the case, then stop the ship and go ashore, set up camp, and build a counterweight catapult.
It takes time to build a catapult. Before that, Guan Yu once tried to call for formation at the foot of Fan City and asked Man Chong to go out for a field battle, but Man Chong refused directly.
You're kidding, I'm out of my mind. I can't stand it if you fight with Guan Yu in the field and you come back and say "take the head of a general out of a million soldiers".
Man Chong is a very pragmatic person and will never go out of the city to fight in the field just for a little fame. Besides, he has never had a good reputation with Cao Wei.
After all, he was born as a cool official.
Besides, being forced to close the city by Guan Yu is not a shameful thing. If you feel shameful, then think about Yan Liang.
Man Chong was so stubborn that Guan Yu had nothing to do with Man Chong.
Guan Yu is a man who wants to show off his face. It's okay for a general to call the formation, but it's not okay for a general to scold the formation. It's beneath his status.
Therefore, Guan Yu asked Zhang Xi if there was any good way.
Zhang Xi thought for a while and said that if it didn't work, he would just let Guan Ping call for the formation.
If he Man Chong didn't even come out to fight when Guan Ping called for the formation, then let Zhang Ni go. If Zhang Ni went to call for the formation and still didn't come out, then he would just call some soldiers to show that he wanted to fight in front of the formation.
As long as Man Chong wants to show his face, he probably won't go as far as Zhang Yi.
It's not embarrassing to be forced to close the city by Guan Yu, but it's really a bit embarrassing to be called out by the younger Guan Ping and not come out.
Of course, if Man Chong is the kind of person who really doesn't care about his reputation and goes to the last step and fights with the soldiers, if he doesn't show up, then he really shouldn't be an official.
If you do, you will be laughed at for the rest of your life.
Of course, if you go out to fight in a duel, you will be laughed at for the rest of your life. A great general actually wants to fight with a small soldier.
Guan Yu felt that this idea was really damaging, but... forget it, let Ping'er go.
Before leaving the battle, Guan Yu told Guan Ping that if Man Chong went into battle, he would not need to get too entangled with Man Chong. He only needed to lead him to the camp on the river bank, and then Guan Yu would personally attend to him.
Guan Ping made a note of it, and then went to Fancheng to call for battle, inviting Man Chong to join the battle.
Man Chong was so angry that his face turned livid.
Guan Yu was humiliating him, and Man Chong knew it.
But at the same time, Man Chong knew better that Guan Yu was motivating him to fight.
After all, Guan Yu came from afar, and a quick victory was his demand, and Man Chong only needed to huddle in Fancheng, hold on to Fancheng, and force Guan Yu to retreat.
Therefore, although Man Chong was very angry and wanted to fight, he finally held back his anger. On the tower of Fancheng, he smiled and said to Guan Ping that Man Chong and Guan Yu were from the same generation, so he would not bully his nephew with the big one. , if Guan Yu thinks he can capture Fancheng, then attack and don't engage in any field battles.
We are all foxes for thousands of years, so let’s not talk about fairy tales.
Although this is a loss of face, there is a reason at least. Man Chong said that he did not go out to fight because he could not bully the small with the big, which made sense.
But three days later, when Zhang Yi appeared outside the city to invite a fight, Man Chong's entire face turned black.
(End of chapter)
