Cao Cao led an army of 100,000 people and set out from Chang'an. It took him thirteen days to enter Hanzhong, where he met with the Yangping Pass guards Zhang He, Xu Huang, Guo Huai, and Du Xi for a decisive battle with Liu Bei.
One thing to say is that Boss Cao's leadership level is absolutely top-notch. An army of 100,000 marched more than 600 miles in 13 days, some of which were steep and winding mountain roads, and the army was still able to maintain combat effectiveness. With this level of leadership, It is the top existence among the Three Kingdoms.
But Lao Liu on the opposite side didn’t give it in vain.
Although he entered Hanzhong, he hid on Dingjun Mountain and did not come down. He occupied the advantageous location and watched as Cao Cao led his troops to join the Yangping Pass guard.
To be honest, Boss Cao hopes that Liu Bei will go down the mountain and fight with him on the Hanzhong Plain. If my cavalry beats your infantry on the plain, if you don't win, I can find a stone and kill you.
Liu Bei obviously knew Cao Cao's plan, so he was stationed on the mountain. I just wouldn't go down. If you have the ability, let the cavalry attack up the mountain. I won't shoot you to death with my bow and arrow.
Both sides wanted to give full play to their greatest advantages and suppress their own disadvantages. Therefore, Boss Cao and Lao Liu started a confrontation at the foot of Dingjun Mountain in Hanzhong.
Cao Cao was not Xia Houyuan, and he would not run off to repair the antlers on his own, so the two of them were just spending money.
Cao Cao knew that the Yizhou Mountain Road was difficult to navigate, and Liu Bei's supply of food and grass would definitely be more difficult. If the delay lasted for a long time, Liu Bei would have to withdraw his troops.
And Liu Bei also knew that Cao Cao came from Chang'an with an army of 100,000 people. Together with the guards at Yangping Pass, the food supplies for nearly 120,000 people could not be supplied by the food reserves at Yangping Pass alone. Hanzhong has been in the army for the past two years. During the war, there was not much food and grass savings, so the food, grass and weapons supplies for these 120,000 people needed to be transported through Chang'an, and the food and grass supply line was very long.
Liu Bei was also waiting, waiting for Cao Cao to be unable to support the supply of food and grass and retreat.
Both sides are betting that their opponent's food and fodder will be exhausted faster than their own.
Of course, since both parties know that the other party's life is food and grass, it is naturally impossible to do nothing.
Cao Cao once sent Xu Huang to lead elite troops to attack from Yangping Pass, bypassing Wei Yan who was defended by Liu Bei's army, and attack the Micangshan grain road where Gaoxiang and Huang Quan were stationed.
However, Xu Huang did defeat Gao Xiang, but it was definitely not an accident that Gao Xiang was valued by Liu Bei.
Although Gao Xiang was defeated by Xu Huang on the frontal battlefield, he was not defeated by Xu Huang. He gathered up the remaining troops and still insisted on the grain road in the rice warehouse, desperately trying to hold Xu Huang back.
Xu Huang bypassed Wei Yan to attack. After a long delay, Wei Yan reacted and led his troops to attack. Xu Huang was faced with the dilemma of being attacked from two sides.
What's more, there is a granary garrison led by Huang Quan behind Gao Xiang, so it is not without reinforcements.
Therefore, after Xu Huang was unable to completely defeat Gao Xiang in a short period of time, he decided to evacuate quickly, not giving Wei Yan a chance to surround him, and retreated to Yangping Pass.
Cao Cao took the lead here and failed to break through Liu Beijun's food road. Liu Beijun also took action later and attacked Cao Cao's food road.
Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun discovered that Cao Jun's grain road was not well defended, so Huang Zhong suggested that he lead his troops to sneak attack Cao Jun's grain and grass, and Zhao Yun led troops as a response.
But Cao Cao, a man who had been accustomed to cutting off other people's food routes all his life, how could he not take precautions against his own. Huang Zhong ran into the encirclement set up by Cao Cao and could not escape after a hard battle.
At this time, Zhao Yun's highlight moment came. There is a saying that the 1994 version of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was really poorly shot, with just a few people surrounding it. Is this looking down on Huang Zhong or Zhao Yun? !
In history, Zhao Yun only led a dozen cavalrymen. He first broke through the defense of Cao Jun's peripheral soldiers, broke into the formation to rescue Huang Zhong, and then found that his deputy general Zhang Zhang was surrounded. He broke into the siege again and rescued Zhang Zhang. Finally, Facing the overwhelming pressure of Cao's army, he opened the gate of the stronghold as a trick to deceive the enemy, and finally used bows and crossbows to repel the enemy, thus frightening off Cao's attack.
After Cao Ren completed the first half of the work in Nanjun, Chen Jiao was "astonished" by Chen Jiao. Zhao Yun completed the entire process, and Liu Bei praised Zhao Yun for being "full of courage". How come he became a high-level marketing boss? Where's the bodyguard? !
After co-writing Cao Ren's lifelong battles, even a bodyguard can't compare with him. Who is this shabby person? !
Well, speaking of Cao Ren. Cao Ren is quite angry now.
The relationship between the Xiahou family and the Cao family was already very close.
Regardless of whose family Cao Cao is a child of, or whether Cao Cao is in power or not, the Cao family and the Xiahou family have always been two large families with a very good relationship, and they have always been related by marriage to each other.
Coupled with so many years of getting along, the friendship between Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan is also quite deep.
Now Xia Houyuan was beheaded at Dingjun Mountain. When Cao Ren learned about it, he was furious and slaughtered the city in Wancheng.
Originally, Cao Ren wanted to go to Hanzhong with Cao Cao to avenge Liu Bei.
However, Houyin of Wancheng rebelled, Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan again, and now occupied Xiangfan, making Cao Ren unable to follow Cao Cao northward.
Therefore, Cao Ren also hated Guan Yu of Xiangfan.
On the one hand, Guan Yu is Liu Bei's second brother. Liu Bei killed Xia Houyuan. Cao Ren now also wants to kill Guan Yu and let Liu Bei try the feeling of losing his brother.
On the other hand, if Guan Yu had nothing to do to attack Xiangfan, as for Cao Ren being sent to Wancheng, couldn't he follow Cao Cao to take revenge? !
Therefore, after Cao Ren put down Hou Yin's rebellion in Wancheng, he took a short rest and led 20,000 soldiers towards Xiangfan.
This is also because Cao Ren was blinded by anger, otherwise he would not have done such a heartless thing.
Xiangfan has a total of more than 50,000 defenders. Even if the surrendered soldiers are excluded, there are still more than 30,000 fighting troops. What can Cao Ren do with only 20,000 people? !
Not to mention, among Cao Ren's 20,000 soldiers, 8,000 were cavalry troops and only 12,000 were infantry.
In fact, Cao Cao's original arrangement was for Cao Ren to wait in Wancheng for a while until the 50,000 Xuzhou soldiers led by Zhang Liao and Zang Ba arrived. After the two sides reunited, he would send troops to conquer Xiangfan.
But before the Xuzhou soldiers led by Zhang Liao and Zang Ba reached Luoyang, Cao Ren led his troops and set off.
Cao Ren took 8,000 cavalry as the vanguard and led 2,000 infantry, totaling 10,000 people, and set out for Fancheng first. Xiahou Shang led the remaining 10,000 infantry as the rear army to follow as soon as possible.
As for Zhang Liao and Zang Ba's reinforcements, Cao Ren kept issuing military orders to urge them to arrive at Fancheng as soon as possible to join them and jointly attack Fancheng.
There is a saying that at this time, Cao Ren had lost the most basic calmness of a general, and the decisions he made were unreasonable.
But at any rate, Cao Ren also knew that he could not attack the city with his cavalry. Although he could move quickly with his cavalry, if he really wanted to defeat Guan Yu or even kill him, he had to let Guan Yu go out of the city to fight. Use the power of cavalry in field battles. To defeat Guan Yu with the superiority of arms.
But, Fancheng's guard is Zhang Xi, who is afraid of death.
Cao Ren was obviously in a panic. He rushed forward without grasping such simple military information. When he arrived outside Fancheng, he personally led his troops to the front of Fancheng and claimed that he would fight Guan Yu in the field.
Zhang Xi was speechless for a while while listening on the tower, and then shouted to Cao Ren that the second master was still in charge in Xiangyang City, so how could he have time to deal with you.
If you have the ability, swim across the Han River and settle the score with the Second Master. The Han River is so big and there is no cover, so you can swim freely.
Or, could you show me a performance of "A man can ride a cloud and a horse soar into the sky"? !
As long as you can perform well, I will give up Fancheng. Really, I will never lie to you.
Cao Ren was so angry on the spot that he really wanted to attack the city directly.
But at any rate, although Cao Ren was angry, he was not overwhelmed by his anger. If the cavalry could attack the city, would he bring people to call for formation?
The only option is to order the infantry to fire arrows and shoot at the soldiers on the city wall. If possible, it is best to shoot the sleazy guard to death directly.
But Zhang Xi is such a coward. He doesn't even go to the city wall unless necessary. At most, he watches the battle on the city tower. Even on the city tower now, Zhang Xi is protected by seven or eight guards with shields. Do you expect to use it? The arrow shot him dead, which underestimated Zhang Xi's fear of death.
Not to mention asking Zhang Xi to give up the advantage of city defense and go out to fight with you in the field. Isn't that a fool's errand?
Anyway, Zhang Xi has only one choice - stick to it.
Cao Ren was even more anxious after being so stimulated by Zhang Xi.
First, he set up camp in the north of Fancheng, and then, regardless of the general's demeanor, he personally led the troops to the front of the formation every day and cursed at the wall of the north gate of Fancheng, calling Zhang Xi a shrinking turtle. Zhang Xi said that this kind of The level of scolding is not even half as powerful as the book review section. You still want me to break my defense? !
Swear whatever you want.
I have to say that Cao Ren is really physically strong, and he was able to curse at the city wall like this for three days.
In the end, he scolded him until he felt exhausted, and then he let the soldiers continue scolding him and went back to camp to rest.
After taking a rest, Cao Ren finally regained some composure.
First of all, Cao Ren figured out that the guard of Fancheng was Zhang Xi, not Guan Yu. Zhang Xi was good at guarding and would not come out to fight with him easily.
In Cao Ren's eyes, when he had a fight with Zhou Yu at the gate of Nanjun City, if Zhang Xi hadn't defended Zhou Yu's own formation, he might have won.
Later, Zhang Xi suddenly sent troops to Badong County when facing Xia Houyuan. He also used a trick to lure Xia Houyuan into the mountain road to set up an ambush. Then he blocked Xia Houyuan's way and defended Badong County.
Therefore, in Cao Ren's opinion, Zhang Xi is not said to have any special offensive abilities, but his defensive ability is really good.
In addition, this man is shameless. He has scolded himself to this extent, and he only needs to greet his parents. He can bear not to go to war. He can't really rely on cavalry to attack the city, right? !
Therefore, Cao Ren felt that he should be more honest, at least wait for the infantry led by Xiahou Shang to arrive, build siege equipment, and let the infantry attack the city in a serious manner.
Just when Cao Ren calmed down a little and made the correct judgment, Cao Ren suddenly received a piece of news.
Just when Cao Ren led his troops to the outside of Fancheng and launched a siege and battle against Fancheng, Guan Yu also received the news that Fancheng was besieged. He personally led the navy to appear on the Han River, and was about to cross the Han River and stationed ashore.
Cao Ren was immediately overjoyed.
If my cavalry can't climb the city wall, can they still defeat Guan Yu's navy? !
Cao Ren immediately ordered his deputy general Chang Diao to lead 2,000 infantry to guard the camp. He personally led 8,000 cavalry in a group charge to the north bank of the Han River.
This time, Cao Ren must rush before Guan Yu sets up his camp and use his cavalry to completely defeat Guan Yu's army. It is even better to be able to kill Guan Yu and avenge Xia Houyuan.
(End of chapter)
