After all, Liu Bei couldn't wait any longer.
Liu Bei is already 63 years old, while Cao Pi of Cao Wei is only 37 years old, and Sun Quan is only 42 years old.
If it weren't for a time-traveling dog like Zhang Xi, no one would know that Cao Pi was a short-lived ghost. According to the thinking of normal people in this era, Liu Bei would definitely not be able to consume the two young men opposite him.
Liu Bei himself also knew that if the current situation was delayed for another three to five years, he might have to go down below to meet the more than 20 late emperors of the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, in September of the second year of Zhangwu, Liu Bei issued an edict to raise 150,000 troops to attack the usurper Cao Pi, and in mid-September, he personally led the troops to station in Hanzhong.
Of course, Liu Bei actually brought only 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers to Hanzhong. The 150,000 refers to the total military strength of all parties.
After the Han Dynasty rebuilt the northern and southern armies, although according to Zhang Fei, "both the northern and southern armies can fight for the country," Liu Bei also knew what the actual situation was.
In less than two years, there is no problem if you just form an ordinary army, but if you want to form the most elite northern and southern armies in the history of the Han Dynasty from scratch, it is simply impossible.
In fact, being able to provide all the armor and ordnance for the Northern and Southern armies in two years can be regarded as the result of the efforts of the people in the Ministry of Industry.
Therefore, Liu Bei could only mobilize some well-trained soldiers from the northern and southern armies, plus the county soldiers previously transferred to Chengdu, to organize an army of about 50,000 people.
The remaining northern and southern armies still stayed to defend Chengdu.
After all, once Liu Bei personally goes to war, it will definitely be Prince Liu Chan who oversees the country. Liu Chan is only seventeen years old and does not have the ability and experience to handle state affairs well. If someone has different intentions, Chengdu will not even have combat power, so it will definitely not work.
Therefore, Liu Bei left Liu Chan with at least half of the northern and southern armies, and also left Xiang Chong and Fu Wei, two of Liu Bei's confidant generals, to command the northern and southern armies and help Liu Chan handle military affairs.
Although the combat capabilities of the northern and southern armies are not up to elite standards, the superiority of the ordnance and equipment of the northern and southern armies is enough to suppress local rebellions.
As for government affairs, Liu Bei left Zhang Yi, Yang Hong, and Qin Mi to assist Liu Chan to ensure that government affairs would not be neglected due to the war.
In this way, Liu Bei led an army of 50,000 people to the north and stationed in Hanzhong. He joined the army of more than 20,000 people that had been assembled in Hanzhong in advance, and the total force reached more than 70,000 people.
In addition, part of Yongliang's army will not gather in Hanzhong, but will gather directly in Shanggui. With Zhao Yun as the commander-in-chief, there will be about 20,000 troops, barely a few hundred thousand.
It’s really not that Yongliang has few soldiers, but that Liu Bei’s decision on the Northern Expedition was indeed ill-timed.
At this time, Yongliang had just settled down, and the people were not yet convinced. Zhao Yun and Ma Chao also had their own practical difficulties, and they did not dare to deploy more soldiers.
Yongliang Prefecture had just experienced war and was about to resume production. Even Ma Chao, a heartless man, did not dare to recruit Yongzhou people to join the army at this time.
And the two states of Yongliang are surrounded by foreign races. Even if they send troops, they have to guard against trouble caused by the surrounding foreign races.
Yongzhou is better. If Ma Chao goes to the Qiang side, he might be able to recruit some Qiang and Hu Yicong to join the war. Zhao Yun in Liangzhou doesn't have this spare capacity.
Liangzhou under the governance of Zhao Yun adopted Xu Miao's strategy of rest and recuperation. Externally, he had to guard against the movements of various foreign tribes. Internally, he had just suppressed the rebellion of Qu Yan, Zhang Jin and others, and for a while he really had no ability to support the Northern Expedition.
Even Pang De, the captain who protects the Qiang, cannot leave Liangzhou. Although Pang De has initially established a reputation as the "White Horse General" in the territory of the Liangzhou tribes, his prestige among the Liangzhou tribes is not as good as Ma Chao, if he and Zhao Yun leave Liangzhou at the same time, Xu Miao alone cannot suppress those Liangzhou Qiang and Hu people.
Therefore, in this Northern Expedition, Liangzhou only had one Zhao Yun as the commander of the army. The main military composition was the Yongzhou Army, which barely managed to scrape together 20,000 people. Half of them were called by Ma Chao and led by his clan brother Ma Dai. The Qiang and Hu Yicong.
Really, this is the ultimate army that Yongliang and Liangzhou can muster while ensuring their own stability.
As for the remaining 50,000 people, no need to ask, they are the Jingzhou Front Army.
The purpose of this Northern Expedition was to conquer Guanzhong. The tasks that Jingzhou had to undertake were actually similar to those of the last Northern Expedition. Therefore, Liu Bei did not call Guan Yu to Chengdu for a meeting this time. He just wrote a letter to Guan Yu and asked Guan Yu to issue an edict. Just raise troops later.
Liu Bei was confident enough about Guan Yu. Guan Yu also had the ability to command the army in combat. In addition, there was no one around Guan Yu to help him. He could leave all the power to Guan Yu, which was much more reliable than remote control by himself.
No matter how "ignorant" Liu Bei is, he is still much better than the Gaolianghe Chariot God and a certain bald principal.
As for Jingzhou, after receiving Liu Bei's order to attack the traitors, Guan Yu did not hesitate to raise 50,000 troops in Xiangyang. At the same time, in the name of a holiday, he ordered Shangyong Koufeng to lead his troops out of Youfufeng to provide support.
Hanzhong had to consider how to enter Guanzhong, but Guan Yu didn't have this trouble. His purpose was simple, just go north and attack Wancheng.
Moreover, the starting point of this Northern Expedition was Guan Yu's petition for memorial. Therefore, after receiving Liu Bei's private letter reply, Jingzhou, like Hanzhong, started preparations for the Northern Expedition early.
The entire configuration is similar to that of the last Northern Expedition. Wenpin, Wang Ji, and Shi Bao are stationed in Jiangxia, Jiangling, and Wuling counties to guard against possible sneak attacks in Jiangdong. Zhang Yi is still stationed in Fancheng as the rear wing of the army, and Ma Liang and Fei Yi are stationed there. Xiangyang, the governor's army provides supplies and supplies.
Guan Yu personally led Xu Shu, Deng Ai, Guan Ping, Guan Xing, Liao Hua, Wang Fu, Zhao Lei and others to march into Wancheng.
As for Wancheng, Zhang Liao has never let down his guard. In the past two years, he has been training soldiers, strengthening the city defense, and building bunkers, camps and other fortifications from Deng County to Wancheng to focus on defense.
As soon as the news of Liu Bei's edict to attack Cao Wei reached Wancheng, Zhang Liao immediately entered a state of war preparation and personally arrived at Deng County with his army, preparing to continue the defense battle of Wancheng.
As for Cao Pi, Liu Bei took action first, and Cao Pi immediately had a direction.
First, Xu Huang in Yanzhou and Zang Ba in Xiapi were ordered to enter a state of combat readiness to defend against possible attacks by Soochow. Cao Xiu and Jia Kui in Yuzhou were also to lead troops forward to contain Zhou Yu who was stationed in Huainan.
As for himself, he personally led 50,000 Chinese troops and immediately raised troops to go south, preparing to be stationed in Luoyang, ready to respond to the battlefields on the east and west fronts at any time.
As Liu Bei arrived in Chang'an, Cao Pi sent troops south to Luoyang, but Sun Quan, who was in Jianye, made no move.
Sun Quan's move made Cao Pi breathe a sigh of relief.
If Sun Quan comes to Huainan or Xuzhou in person, then Cao Pi really has to worry about the possibility that the emperor will come to the front line in a two-front battle. It is impossible for the Soochow army to continue to retreat and let the emperor direct the defensive battle, right? !
Sun Quan still stayed in Jianye, which shows that Soochow has no desire to take the initiative to attack, and should still focus on defense. The important thing is to see if there is a chance to make a sneak attack. Just let Xu Huang, Cao Xiu, Zang Ba and others be more vigilant. .
In this way, Cao Pi could confidently and boldly enter Luoyang. If necessary, Cao Pi could even send the elite of the Chinese army to Chang'an to support Cao Zhen, who was at a disadvantage in terms of military strength.
Following Liu Bei's edict, the entire Central Plains began to enter a state of intense war preparation.
But the person who actually fired the first shot was a character that no one expected.
Lu Xun, who was stationed in Langya County, suddenly took action and led his troops from Langya County southward to Xiapi County, which kicked off the war.
Zang Ba, who was in Xiapi, was beaten for a moment and was a little caught off guard.
As for this matter, although there were some problems with Zang Ba himself and some problems with his response, in the final analysis, everyone still despised the Qingxu Governor of Eastern Wu who was stationed in Langya County.
Lu Xun was not only smart and keen on military affairs, but also very good at learning. He somewhat learned some less honorable methods from Lu Meng, the former governor of Jingnan, Soochow, who had passed away due to illness.
In the past two years, Lu Xun wrote to Zang Ba every once in a while, showing an attitude of asking for advice from a younger generation. He even showed his weakness skillfully, making Zang Ba think that this person's ability was nothing more than that.
It was precisely because of Zang Ba's judgment of Lu Xun that it affected Xu Huang in Yanzhou, Cao Xiu and Jia Kui in Yuzhou, and even Cao Pi in Yecheng. They all believed that Lu Xun's appointment was the result of Sun Quan's misuse of his relatives.
Therefore, Zang Ba really did not expect that Lu Xun would suddenly take the initiative to attack Xiapi.
And Lu Xun's method of attacking Xiapi was also quite clever.
Lu Xun did not send troops all the way, but went straight to Xiapi to attack him and divided his troops.
He led an army west to attack Pengcheng and threatened the west side of Xiapi County. He also ordered his deputy governor Zhuge Jin to lead troops out of Peng County to threaten the east side of Xiapi County.
Zang Ba was originally caught off guard by Lu Xun's surprise attack, but now he was suddenly faced with a two-pronged attack from the Soochow army, and he was even more at a loss to deal with it.
But after all, Zang Ba was not a freeloader. He had no ability and could not be the emperor of Qingxu for so long. After calming down, Zang Ba began to judge where the focus of the two-pronged attacking army of Soochow was. .
Lu Xun's sneak attack made Zang Ba realize that he might have really underestimated this weak scholar who was born in a maternal relationship. The timing of this sneak attack and the coordination of the two-way flanking attack were not something that a novice on the battlefield could do.
After a brief study and judgment, Zang Ba felt that since Lu Xun was not as incompetent as he thought, he could infer based on common sense that the direction where the commander led the troops should be the main direction of attack.
Therefore, Zang Ba made a decision and ordered the generals of Yongxian County to stand firm and wait for reinforcements, but at the same time sent reinforcements to Pengcheng.
But then, something happened that Zang Ba couldn't figure out.
Not long after sending reinforcements to Pengcheng, while the reinforcements were still on the way, Zang Ba suddenly received a report from the defenders in Pengcheng, saying that Lu Xun was unable to attack Pengcheng and had withdrawn.
Zang Ba wondered at that time whether Lu Xun was really incompetent, or whether he had misjudged the enemy's main attack direction? !
At this time, Zang Ba suddenly received an urgent report from Peng County, saying that Zhuge Jin led 20,000 troops to besiege Peng County, Peng County fell, and now the Soochow Army had approached Quyang County on the east side of Xiapi County.
Zang Ba was startled, thinking that he had fallen into Lu Xun's plan of seizing the east and attacking the west, and misjudged the direction of the enemy's main attack. He immediately called back the reinforcements sent to Pengcheng and asked the reinforcements to rush to Quyang for support.
But less than three days later, another battle report was sent from the direction of Pengcheng, saying that Lu Xun once again led troops to Pengcheng, and Pengcheng was in emergency. Zang Ba began to have a headache.
Which direction is the main attack direction of the Soochow Army? !
(End of chapter)
