Lu Xun is certainly one of the outstanding strategists and military strategists of this era. His talents are truly as good as anyone in the world, but he has not yet been recognized by the world.
There is no way, in this time and space, there is Zhou Yu who wants to die but does not succeed. The first military person in Soochow will always be that majestic and heroic man.
However, this does not mean that Lu Xun is inferior to Zhou Yu in terms of ability.
Lu Xun in history can be said to be the giant arm in the middle of the Eastern Wu Dynasty. It was precisely because he guarded Jiangling that Cao Wei never dared to go south to Jiangling, and it was also because he defeated Cao Xiu in Shiting and beat Cao Xiu to a gloomy state. In the end, Cao Wei temporarily gave up taking the strategic initiative against Soochow, and planned to concentrate on defeating the Shu Han first.
Although this was because Zhuge Liang put too much pressure on him, it was also because Cao Wei really couldn't take advantage of Soochow.
And all this is because of Lu Xun.
However, there is one thing to say. There is no problem with Lu Xun's strategic ability and troop leadership ability. He can indeed be regarded as one of the top five beings in the world.
But Lu Xun's military thinking and habits also had quite a problem.
To put it mildly, Lu Xun was more cautious in his use of troops and never took unnecessary risks.
To put it bluntly, when Lu Xun used troops, he only took advantage of them. Once he encountered trouble, he would rather retreat first to ensure his own vested interests first.
From this point of view, in fact, Lu Xun and Zhang Xi in this time and space should have a common language.
It’s hard to say whether Lu Xun’s style of using troops was due to his own personality, or whether it was influenced by Soochow’s strategy of “securing the river and defending oneself” at that time. But in short, take a closer look at the several attacks on Xiangyang launched by Lu Xun while guarding Jiangling. Attacks basically end in an anticlimax.
As long as Lu Xun was aware of the possibility of large-scale reinforcements from the Wei army, Lu Xun would never choose to fight locally in exchange for greater results.
Often at this time, Lu Xun would rather choose to withdraw his troops, preserve the current situation, and then see if there are other benefits that can be gained.
The current situation is also the same. After Lu Xun noticed the Wei army appearing in Yingyang in the northwest, he subconsciously considered whether the Wei army's Yanzhou army had entered Runan and assisted Runan's defense.
If you think about it to a certain extent, Lu Xun thinks it is not impossible.
Originally, Lu Xun was a little surprised that Cao Xiu had doubled the number of troops. After careful analysis, Lu Xun believed that it was very likely that Yingchuan County and Yanzhou near Runan County had already sent troops. Otherwise, Cao Xiu would not have been able to gather 50,000 troops anyway. Attacking Huainan.
But the problem is, if the Yanzhou Army has really entered Runan in advance, it is hard to say whether Cao Xiu will use all of it to fight.
After all, Runan is Cao Xiu's home base and has been operating for almost ten years. Even if we speculate according to conventional thinking, even if he wants to send troops to Huainan, Cao Xiu will not leave his troops behind under the arrangement of Runan.
Depending on the size of Runan County and the location of each county, the number of remaining troops may range from 5,000 to 20,000. It is possible.
Now that the Wei army has appeared in Yingyang, the number is still around 3,000, which means that Cao Xiu's remaining troops are at least more than 5,000, and a reasonable estimate is at least 10,000.
Otherwise, how could there be so many Wei troops in Yingyang.
Moreover, this Wei army suddenly appeared in Yingyang instead of in other directions, which made Lu Xun have to think more.
Yingyang is less than thirty miles northwest of Ruyin, and less than three days after he captured Ruyin County, the Wei army had already arrived at Yingyang. Does this mean that in fact, his sneak attack? Wei Jun had already noticed it.
Then will more troops gather in Yingyang to pose a threat to their flanks? !
Or are these soldiers Cao Xiu's back-up force, ready to assist him in withdrawing his troops to Runan if the war goes unfavorably? !
Lu Xun must understand the possibility here and make a suitable response plan at the same time.
Therefore, Lu Xun did not send an envoy to Xu Sheng to inform him of his situation for the time being. Instead, he asked Zhu Ju to lead five thousand troops to Yingyang for a tentative attack.
We need to find out what the Wei army in Runan County will do next.
In fact, Lu Xun was half right. The Wei army in Yingyang was indeed led by Xu Zhi, and was prepared to take over some of Cao Xiu's troops to return to Runan when Cao Xiu's war went against him.
But at this time, Xu Zhi did not actually receive the news that Cao Xiu was blocked in Dangtu County. The reason why he led his troops to Yingyang was not because he was aware of Lu Xun's sneak attack on Ruyin. It can be said that it was a coincidence. Wrong, it can be said that it is a mistake.
Things have to start after Cao Xiu led his troops to attack Runan.
Xu Zhi was Cao Xiu's back-up man, and he naturally stayed at Shangcai, Cao Xiu's base camp.
Only here is the most convenient place to assemble troops from various counties and then go to meet Cao Xiu.
However, in Shangcai, there was Gao Tanglong, who was named "left behind" by Cao Xiu.
Theoretically speaking, Gao Tanglong, the left-behind governor, has a much higher position than Xu Zhi, the future governor, not to mention Gao Tanglong is still the prefect of Chenliu.
Although the governor of a county was nothing in front of Cao Xiu, in front of Xu Zhi, a partial general, he was a high-ranking official.
Moreover, Gao Tanglong is a good official who is loyal to his duties.
Although Gao Tanglong also knew that Cao Xiu was only taking care of his face by giving him the so-called "left-behind" position and did not expect him to do anything, Gao Tanglong felt that since he had assumed this position, he should do what this position should do. .
Therefore, Gao Tanglong really replaced Cao Xiu and began to manage the daily work of Runan County.
Not only on government affairs, but also on military affairs, Gao Tanglong also started to ask questions without any politeness.
Now Cao Xiu is fighting abroad. Although Gao Tanglong doesn't understand military affairs, he also knows the importance of logistics. Since he is staying behind, he must help Cao Xiu handle the logistics.
Of course, if Gao Tanglong only intervened in these matters, Xu Zhi would not say much. After all, not only do these matters need someone to handle them, but Gao Tanglong did a good job.
Until Gao Tanglong ordered the counties in Runan to mobilize some troops and go to Shangcai to gather Xu Zhi, who could not sit still.
What does this "left behind" want to do? !
These troops and horses were left by Cao Xiu to Xu Zhi. In case the war went unfavorable, he could assemble them and assist Cao Xiu before withdrawing the important forces in Runan.
Now some of them have been transferred by Gao Tanglong. If Gao Tanglong orders these soldiers to do other things, and when General Cao needs support, will he take the lead to respond to General Cao? !
Therefore, Xu Zhi had to go to Gao Tanglong, hoping that Gao Tanglong would give him an explanation.
Gao Tanglong was actually very unhappy about this.
Xu Zhi is just a partial general. It is his responsibility to arrange military affairs in the army. Why does he come to ask himself what the purpose of deploying troops is? !
This is not something you Xu Zhi should ask, and it is not within the scope of your Xu Zhi's responsibilities.
He was just a partial general, but he actually came to question the governor of a county, who was also the "left behind" appointed by Cao Xiu himself? !
Of course Gao Tanglong was very dissatisfied with this.
But Gao Tanglong, although he is a literati, has the common problem of literati, he is more obsessed with etiquette and rules.
But Gao Tanglong is not a rotten scholar. He will not look down on warriors for nothing, nor will he not give others a chance to speak. At least he asked Xu Zhi clearly what reason he had for questioning him.
After learning that Xu Zhi had orders from Cao Xiu and needed to support Cao Xiu at the critical moment, Gao Tanglong's dissatisfaction had mostly disappeared.
In fact, the reason why Gao Tanglong transferred soldiers from various counties was because he had some concerns about Cao Xiu.
But the problem is that Gao Tanglong is also self-aware. He knows that he does not understand military affairs. Although he is worried, he cannot tell where he is worried. Therefore, Gao Tanglong thinks that if he first mobilizes troops and horses, everything will be better. If something unexpected happened, he wouldn't be in a hurry.
Upon hearing Gao Tanglong's explanation, Xu Zhi breathed a sigh of relief.
I dare say that this left behind is not a nerd who only knows how to read. He can also think of the back-up plan left by General Cao.
But you can’t do this! ! !
We don't have many soldiers left in total. The purpose of distributing them in various counties is, on the one hand, to guard the place, and on the other hand, it is also to serve as a warning.
Now that you have suddenly gathered some of your soldiers in Shangcai, something unexpected will happen in the future. Not to mention the empty defenses in various places, this small number of troops alone will not be enough to respond to General Cao.
This is not a waste of time and food.
When Xu Zhi said this, Gao Tanglong also felt that it made sense. Sure enough, it was because he didn't understand military affairs and he accidentally made a mistake.
Gao Tanglong, as a great Confucian, is still very dignified. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Since you are wrong, admit it, and then be willing to lower your head and ask Xu Zhi if he should dismiss these soldiers again. Go back to the counties.
Having already made a mistake once, Gao Tanglong didn't dare to make blind decisions, so he asked Xu Zhi.
Xu Zhixin said, thank you for asking me. If you didn't ask, you would be in big trouble.
Gao Tanglong mobilized about 5,000 people to Shangcai.
It is not a big deal to dispatch people to Shangcai to gather. Gao Tanglong has this right, and the soldiers must obey military orders.
But if you send people over, but then send them back without doing anything, the soldiers may not say anything on their lips, but they will definitely have complaints in their hearts.
Marching and fighting are really considered tourism, right? It’s not that pleasant to rush along under military orders.
As a result, they gathered at the local area, but no combat missions were assigned, and the soldiers were sent back. Is it fun to play back and forth? !
It seriously affects the morale of the army.
You definitely can't put it back just like that. Even if you find something to do for the soldiers, you can't put it back right away.
Xu Zhi thought for a moment and gave Gao Tanglong an idea.
If it didn't work, Gao Tanglong gave him an order to draw 3,000 soldiers out of the 5,000 soldiers, and asked Xu Zhi to take these 3,000 soldiers to inspect the local defenses of the counties in Runan. The remaining 2,000 soldiers, Gao Tanglong Long stayed in Shangcai and followed Cai's original 3,000 soldiers to form a left-behind force of 5,000 people as a back-up force.
Although doing this may seem like a left-handed attack, it does not mean that the five thousand soldiers transferred here will have nothing to do.
Moreover, this can be regarded as fulfilling General Cao's orders.
If there are no problems and General Cao is successfully fighting at the front, then it makes sense for these 3,000 people to be mobilized to patrol the defense. If General Cao really encounters an accident, then Xu Zhi's 3,000 people will be considered the first response force. , you can also prepare in advance, Gao Tanglong can also immediately use 5,000 left-behind soldiers as the second batch of support troops to quickly come to the rescue.
After listening to Xu Zhi's suggestion, Gao Tanglong felt that this was a really good idea, so he followed it.
Then, Xu Zhi led his troops to inspect various counties, and walked all the way to Yingyang County.
Then, Xu Zhi learned about the loss of Ruyin.
(End of chapter)
