In Guan Yu's plan, the Flooded Seventh Army did not really let the Han River burst its banks and leave it alone. He did nothing and relied on the rushing water of the Han River to drown the enemy. To be honest, this was impossible.
With the current water level and flow rate of the Han River, even if the embankment bursts, a tidal flat will be poured out. And if the flow rate is not fast enough, the imperial army will have enough time to direct the soldiers to take refuge on high ground even after the initial panic. , wait until the water recedes, then come down and continue fighting Guan Yu.
If you want to use a boat to besiege others like in history, don't even think about it.
The flood in the 24th year of Jian'an directly caused the level of the Han River to skyrocket, directly destroying the dams. The Han River overflowed in large quantities and poured onto the plains. At its peak, the water level of the Han River was seven to eight feet higher than the plains. The water surface was less than two feet away. Guan Yu could easily take a boat to surrender the imperial army, and by the way, Fancheng was also flooded.
But now, the water level of the Han River is not that high. Although there has been some rain recently, there have been no consecutive heavy rain days, so Guan Yu decided to dig the river embankment and release water downstream near the forbidden camp.
But the purpose was not to drown the army that died in the forbidden camp with water, but to use the water that burst the embankment to create chaos among the soldiers in the forbidden camp. Then Guan Yu asked Guan Ping, Zhang Xi, and Zhang Yi to set up ambushes on three sides to besiege those who fled due to the temporary chaos. Cao Jun in the camp.
After all, water and fire are ruthless. Even if there is only enough water to cover your knees, if a large amount of it suddenly appears in front of you, few people will not panic.
In fact, most of the water attacks and fire attacks in this era were just to create chaos in the army, including the famous Battle of Chibi. Very few soldiers actually died in the Chibi fire. Most of them were because they were panicked and could not organize. The effective defense was defeated by Zhou Yu's troops.
Water attacks may be a bit special. After all, the power depends on the water level and water flow speed. But most of them are used to create chaos.
There are only a few exceptions, and there are basically none in this era, but they are concentrated in the Yellow River area in the north in later generations. The Yellow River in later generations has turned into an above-ground river under the sedimentation of sediments, with its own height difference. Once the embankment breaks, it will It’s not easy to block it.
Guan Yu's plan to flood the Seventh Army this time is essentially to create chaos. After digging the river embankment, he will not leave it alone. Instead, he will quickly block the river embankment after the ambush is over, so that the flood can be eliminated. Losses are minimized and next year’s farming is not delayed.
As for this year’s food, well, don’t think about it. We’ve been at war so far, so this year’s food cannot be saved.
Just when Guan Yu was making combat arrangements and preparing to burst the embankment, a sudden heavy rain began to fall in the Xiangfan area.
During the heavy rain, it was not suitable to use troops, so Guan Yu suspended his arrangements and waited for the heavy rain to pass.
Since the beginning of August, it has been really common to have heavy rains from time to time. Sometimes it stops within a few hours, sometimes it lasts for two or three days, and the longest it lasts does not exceed three days in a row. .
This kind of weather is fair to both sides of the war. No one can take military action and can only wait until the rain stops.
But this time, the heavy rain has lasted for five or six days, and it still shows no sign of stopping.
Zhang Xi started to feel confused. He looked at the sky from time to time, strongly doubting whether God really existed in this world.
Or maybe the second master is really the reincarnation of the Martial Saint from heaven. If he wants to fight a war, God will help him? !
According to past experience, three consecutive days of heavy rain can cause the water level of the Han River to rise and speed up the flow, but it will not make the water level higher than the river bank. As long as the rain stops for two or three days, the flow will naturally return to calm. But what the hell now? It has been raining for five or six days in a row, with no signs of stopping.
Zhang Xi once braved heavy rain and went to the embankment of Hanshui River to observe the hydrological conditions. If it rains at this rate for another two or three days, the water level of Hanshui River may overflow the embankment.
At that time, it is no longer a question of whether to flood the Seventh Army, but a question of how to prevent the more than 30,000 people we brought with us from being flooded.
The second master said that this was easy to handle.
Don’t forget how we came to the north bank of Han River.
After sensing the possibility of flooding, Guan Yu ordered some people to find high ground to camp, and some people to evacuate to the boats. Don't forget, we came to attack Xiangfan this time, but we brought more than 200 boats.
Therefore, Guan Yu's army spent two days moving camps and boarding ships, and finally completed the evacuation work.
During this period, the heavy rain in Xiangfan still showed no signs of stopping, and even worse news came.
In Xianshan on the south bank of the Han River, large-scale flash floods broke out due to consecutive days of heavy rain. The flash floods suddenly poured down with mudslides and poured directly into the Han River, causing part of the Han River to be silted up and the water flow was sluggish.
At this time, the floods in the upper reaches of the Han River were still pouring down, washing away the mud and rocks. At the same time, the blockage of the mud also caused the water level to continue to rise. Eventually, the embankment on the north bank of the Han River could no longer hold up.
The Han River burst its embankments, and a large amount of Han River diverted and poured out toward the north bank of the Han River, instantly submerging the farmland and two military camps along the Han River.
Yes, even the camp where Guan Yu originally camped was submerged under the surging water level of the Han River.
As for Yu Jin's Seventh Army, to be honest, Yu Jin's reaction was not too slow.
Yu Jin, who has been in the north all year round, had no idea that Jingxiang would experience heavy rains in July and August, and he had no idea about the hydrological conditions of the Han River.
It rained a few days ago, and Yu Jin just felt that the weather here was too bad. He finally prepared the plan to send troops to attack Guan Yu, but had to postpone it.
After all, there is no precedent before. The rain will stop on its own within two or three days.
But when the rain didn't stop for seven or eight days, Yu Jin finally realized that something was wrong. To the south of him, there was a big river.
The day before the Han River burst its banks, Yu Jin finally realized the danger and ran to the Han River embankment to check. After returning to the camp, he quickly began to organize his soldiers to evacuate the camp and try to escape to high ground.
However, under the command of Jin, after several battles, there are still about 25,000 people.
It took Guan Yu two full days to evacuate his more than 30,000 soldiers and get on the boat to the mountain. Yu Jin only had one day, and he even had a disobedient subordinate named Xu Chu.
Yu Jin asked the army to withdraw quickly and retreat to the original camp on the north side. The terrain there was higher and there were still traces of the original camp, so it was easier to build a new camp.
But Xu Chu didn't know what he was thinking at this time. He was going against Yu Jin's tune. He was sure that Yu Jin was timid and fearful. He was afraid of Guan Yu and did not dare to fight Guan Yu.
Therefore, Xu Chu said, "If you want to evacuate, you should evacuate. I will stay in this camp with more than 7,000 people in my headquarters. When the rain stops, you can just wait and see how you can make great contributions to this timid young man."
At this time, Yu Jin no longer cares about trying to persuade this fool. Anyway, I am the commander-in-chief and I have the final say.
Yu Jin left Xu Chu alone and evacuated to the northern highlands with more than 17,000 people who were willing to follow him.
But after all, it was a step too late.
The Han River burst its banks, and the water was so fierce that it quickly caught up with Yu Jin's retreating army, forcing Yu Jin to let his soldiers escape and seek refuge on high ground.
As for Xu Chu, he was not really a fool after all.
When he said that, he just indulged in the habit of ridiculing.
It was obvious that he had defeated Guan Yu and captured Guan Yu's camp, but Yu Jin was so jealous of his talents that he refused to record his merits for himself. He had no military merits, so why should he be made a marquis?
But after seeing that Yu Jin really ignored him and led his soldiers to retreat quickly, Xu Chu also hesitated.
After quickly sending people to check the river embankment, Xu Chu finally realized the seriousness of the problem and immediately organized his troops to retreat to the east.
Xu Chu mainly felt that just now he was fighting against Yu Jin and disobeying the general's order. Now if he followed Yu Jin's example and retreated until they reached the northern highlands and the two sides met, he would be very embarrassed.
So Xu Chu didn't want to run north.
But to the west was Guan Yu's camp, Xu Chu couldn't bring so many soldiers to seek death, and to the south was the Han River. Therefore, Xu Chu didn't think much and chose to retreat to the east.
But the problem is that to the east is the downstream direction of the Han River, and Xu Chu set out half a day later than Yu Jin. After the Han River burst its banks, most of the 7,000 soldiers led by Xu Chu, except for a few who were lucky enough to take refuge on the mountains and highlands, They were all washed away by the flood after the Han River burst its banks.
Xu Chu himself was very lucky. Although he couldn't swim, there happened to be a big tree swept away by the flood next to him. Xu Chu managed to float holding the tree. He was discovered by the army sergeant who ran to the high ground after a short period of floating. Saved him.
As for Yu Jin, he tried his best to run to high ground to avoid the flood, but he came out with more than 10,000 people, but now only a few hundred people followed him.
But there is also good news, that is, not many of the more than 10,000 people in the forbidden zone died directly from the floods. Everyone basically ran to the nearby highlands. Some highlands were flat and large, and there were two to three thousand people gathered there. , some places are small, like the place where Yu Jindai lived, which can only accommodate two to three hundred people.
After a rough estimate of the soldiers he had brought out, nearly eighty of them were still there, which made Yu Jin feel better.
But the problem still exists. Heavy rains are still falling and water levels are still rising. God knows when, these highlands will no longer be able to survive.
Another one is that when they escaped for their lives, they abandoned almost all their food and baggage. Now they are surrounded by floods and have no food and grass at all. How can so many people survive?
Yu Jin thought of these two problems almost immediately, but he had no solution.
Facing such a natural disaster, Yu Jin was really helpless.
(End of chapter)
