In December of the 25th year of Jian'an, Zhou Yu defeated Cao Xiu in Shiting and defeated the 50,000 Chinese reinforcements led by Cao Xiu.
Cao Xiu, however, finally managed to escape with the help of Jia Kui's troops, and the two of them retreated to Runan County to set up defenses.
Because Jia Kui led his troops out of Hefei City to meet Cao Xiu, Hefei City was empty and unprepared, and was easily captured by Jiangdong general Sun Shao.
Hefei fell.
After the fall of Hefei, it triggered a considerable chain reaction.
The first was the Runan earthquake.
Originally, Runan's defenders did not have many troops, otherwise Deng Ai would not have used Runan's brains to plan a sneak attack. But by mistake, he met Sima Yi, who also wanted to sneak attack on Xinye. They all discovered that the other party had the intention of sneak attack, and finally had to give up.
Although Cao Pi wrote to the Prime Minister of Runan County asking for the strengthening of defense in Runan, the current situation is no longer a question of whether to strengthen defense.
At this time, Runan's military strength was seriously insufficient. Once Hefei fell, Runan would first face Jiangdong's army, which would be much more serious than Deng Ai leading thousands of soldiers to attack in a sneak attack.
The magistrate of Runan County had to quickly ask Sima Yi, Xu Duling, for help. Sima Yi also knew the importance and immediately sent out five thousand men, led by Wang Shuang, to support Cao Xiu and Jia Kui who were retreating in Runan and strengthen Runan's defense.
At the same time, Sima Yi hurriedly asked Cao Pi for help in Chang'an.
There is no doubt about Sima Yi's strategic vision, and he is very aware of the danger Runan is facing now.
If Jiangdong's army breaks through Huainan and enters Runan directly, it may not be possible to defend it with Runan's local county soldiers, the more than 10,000 defeated troops of Cao Xiu and others, and the 5,000 people brought by Wang Shuang.
After all, the opponent is Zhou Yu, and the Jiangdong Army's morale is at a high level after taking Hefei. If they pursue the victory, it's hard to say whether they can conquer Runan County in one fell swoop.
And the most terrible thing is that once Jiangdong Army conquers Runan, it will echo Guan Yu fighting in Nanyang. Zhang Liao's side may be better, but Xu Du guarded by Sima Yi will really face the trouble of being attacked from both sides. .
Secondly, there was the shock in Xuzhou.
Zang Ba, who was defending Xiapi City, had a headache after learning that Hefei had been lost.
The fall of Hefei means that the fall of Huainan will happen sooner or later. In addition to marching into Runan, the Jiangdong Army also has a more practical direction of march-going north to attack Xuzhou.
Originally, Zang Ba was holding on to Xiapi with more than 10,000 Xuzhou soldiers. With the city defense of Xiapi and the supply of grain and grass from Yanzhou behind him, it should be no problem to hold on for a few months.
But now that Huainan has been lost, Zhou Yu can directly lead his army northward and form a pincer attack with Sun Quan. He can also cut off his connection with Yanzhou and let Xiapi become an isolated city. If he continues to defend like this, God knows how long he can defend.
Zang Ba had no choice but to appeal to Cao Pi in Chang'an again. If there were not enough reinforcements to defend the Jiangdong Army in Huainan, then Zang Ba would have no choice but to withdraw from Xuzhou and lead his troops to retreat to Yanzhou.
At this time, what reassured Zang Ba was that Jiang Ji finally arrived with 10,000 Chinese reinforcements, which could somewhat relieve Zang Ba's urgent need.
But even so, the battle situation in the eastern part of the Central Plains was still very unfavorable to Cao Wei.
At the same time, in the land of Yongliang, a battle related to the ownership of the two states of Yongliang in the northwest of Cao Wei has also reached a critical moment.
We need to go back a little in time, to the time when Sun Quan crossed the river to attack Guangling. At this time, Liu Bei officially began to march eastward to attack Guangwei County.
Zhang Xi and Zhang Fei once again worked together. They were ordered to lead 20,000 troops, quickly march eastward to Shanggui, and besiege Guo Huai who was holding on here.
Guo Huai of Shanggui brought more than 3,000 cavalry and more than 1,000 infantry when he retreated from Liangzhou. Together with the original 5,000 defenders in Shanggui City, he gathered nearly 10,000 soldiers to defend Shanggui. .
Although Zhang Fei and Zhang Xi were marching very fast, after all, they led troops back from Ji County and rested for a while in West County before marching eastward. They were mainly infantry, so in In terms of marching speed, there is really no way to compare with Guo Huai.
By the time Zhang Xi and Zhang Fei arrived at Shanggui City with their troops, Guo Huai had already established a firm foothold in Shanggui City. At the same time, he had begun to strengthen Shanggui's city defense facilities and was ready to defend the city.
Before heading east this time, when Zhang Xi and Zhang Fei rested for a day in Xi County, Fazheng and Pang Tong had already told them all about their next strategic ideas. They knew that if they were to break off Long, then going up to Gui was the key point. , we must find a way to conquer Shanggui City.
Of course, it doesn't matter if Shanggui City cannot be conquered in a short time, but Shanggui must be surrounded. After Liu Bei leads the army to conquer Guangwei County, he can lead the main force of the army to march eastward and reach Shanggui.
As for Jieting, what Fazheng and Pang Tong meant was that if they could quickly conquer Guangwei County and Shanggui, then Jieting would not actually be important.
But if Guangwei County and Shanggui cannot be conquered in a short time, the street pavilion must be guarded.
It is not necessary to defeat the enemy. It is enough to set up defenses layer by layer, delay time, and buy enough time for the army to attack Guangwei and Shanggui.
At the street pavilion, Fazheng and Pang Tong both looked at the map and didn't think it was a difficult task.
The terrain of the street pavilion is surrounded by mountains on both sides and a road in the middle. This kind of terrain is indeed unsafe to defend.
But the problem is that the street guard booth does not allow you to defeat the enemy. As long as you delay, it is not impossible to do it.
As long as we set up strongholds on the main road and resist at every level, no matter how many Cao Wei armies come, delaying for several months should not be a problem.
What's more, neither Fazheng nor Pang Tong believed that Cao Wei's army could arrive so quickly.
So in this regard, Fazheng and Pang Tong left it to Zhang Xi and Zhang Fei. To be precise, it was Zhang Xi who came to the formation to judge when to go to the street guard pavilion.
Zhang Xi's judgment on this was: If you want to defend, go early. Who said Cao Jun couldn't come so fast? !
In history, Ma Su suffered this loss, thinking that Zhang He could not arrive so quickly, so he slowly set up defenses, but Zhang He was killed by surprise. Eventually, he lost the water source and was trapped on the mountain. In a few days, people broke through the street pavilion. Copy the prime minister's retreat.
Therefore, soon after arriving at Shanggui City, Zhang Xi asked Zhang Fei to divide his troops and go to guard the street pavilion himself.
Zhang Fei was happy. After all, he was an old partner. Zhang Fei could be said to be the person who knew Zhang Xi best, and he knew that this guy wouldn't do anything wrong.
Since Yuan Chang valued the street pavilion so much, and the street pavilion was behind him, Zhang Fei naturally had no intention of blocking him, and he happily allocated 10,000 troops to Zhang Xi.
Zhang Xi did not expect to bring so many troops. There were only 20,000 soldiers in total, and the troops were divided into 10,000. Zhang Fei only had 10,000 soldiers left in his hands.
Guo Huai, who was at Shanggui, had nearly ten thousand men including cavalry.
Ten thousand against ten thousand, Zhang Fei is still the siege party. This Shanggui will be very difficult to defeat, and it does not meet the strategic requirements of quickly conquering Shanggui.
But Zhang Fei said it was okay. This counterweight catapult is really a good thing.
There are still not many generals in Liu Bei's army who know how to build and use counterweight catapults. After all, this is Liu Bei's group's siege weapon and is a secret. Not everyone is qualified to know how to build and use it.
But among these people, Zhang Fei is definitely not included. Guo Huai used a thunderbolt cart to hit Zhang Xi in Ji County, and now it was Zhang Fei's turn to hit Guo Huai with a counterweight catapult.
With the counterweighted catapult in hand, Zhang Fei really didn't think he would be unable to take down the small Shanggui City. The only time needed was to build the catapult and the time it took for the catapult to collapse the city wall.
When Zhang Xi heard this, he immediately felt relieved.
However, out of caution, Zhang Xi warned Zhang Fei again and again - Guo Huai is a famous general and has cavalry in his hands, so he is not so easy to mess with.
You must be very careful, don't give Guo Huai any chance, don't turn back and attack the city, and don't let Guo Huai sneak attack again.
Zhang Fei smiled and patted Zhang Xi on the shoulder to reassure Zhang Xi.
After all, Lao Zhang has been fighting for most of his life. Although he is older now, he is still not old and confused, and Guo Huai is not something Lao Zhang should be nervous about.
It's really not that he underestimated his enemy. It was Zhang Fei who had this confidence, which belongs to the confidence of a famous general in the world.
But Zhang Xi was still worried and left Jiang Xu, who had come to Gui with the army, to Zhang Fei.
Although Jiang Xu cannot compare with his nephew Jiang Wei's future achievements, after observing these days, Zhang Xi also discovered that Jiang Xu's ability is actually not bad, and he is also a general with both wisdom and courage. With Jiang Xu helping Zhang Fei check for mistakes and fill in the gaps, he himself You can also feel more at ease.
As for going to the street guarding pavilion by himself, Zhang Xi is not worried about having no generals available.
On the day he stayed in Xixian County, Zhang Xi specifically applied to Liu Bei to let Wang Ping lead three thousand Wudang flying troops to accompany the army. Zhang Xi planned to take Wang Ping to the street guarding pavilion as in history.
Really, as long as I don’t make Ma Su’s stupid mistake and Zhang Xi leads the Wudang Feijun led by Wang Ping to help Zhang Xi, I don’t believe that Jieting can be lost again this time! ! !
(End of chapter)
