If the Wei soldiers in Hedong County were insufficiently prepared for combat, which was due to internal conflicts, then the lack of preparation for combat in Yanzhou was entirely due to external factors.
Yanzhou is the place where Cao Cao started his business. After Cao Wei has been running it for so many years, Yanzhou is basically filled with aristocratic families who support the Cao Wei Group, and there are no internal conflicts.
But the problem is that the Soochow Army in the southeast of Yanzhou was procrastinating and refused to withdraw its troops. As a result, Jia Kui did not dare to easily mobilize troops from the southeast of Yanzhou to support Hulao Pass.
I was simply fooled by this pig teammate from Soochow.
As for Soochow, in fact, Soochow naturally has its own considerations.
There is not much mutual trust between Wei and Wu. The current alliance is just to restrain the expansion of Shu Han in recent years, and it is forced by the situation.
Cao Wei believed that Soochow could not be trusted, and was worried that Soochow would betray its alliance and launch a sneak attack. In fact, Soochow also did not believe Cao Wei. After all, the two sides had been enemies for decades, and trust could not be established immediately with just a piece of alliance.
On the other hand, Soochow knows that after this alliance, Cao Wei will definitely mobilize enough troops to counterattack Luoyang. By chance, Soochow also needs Cao Wei to contain the Shu Han's energy in the north. It is best to mobilize the Jingzhou army to go north to support Hehe. Luo, in this way, they can attack Jingzhou.
This caused a more troublesome problem - Soochow Wu had been waiting for Cao Wei to counterattack Luoyang first, and then they dared to safely dispatch soldiers from Huainan to march eastward to Jiangxia, and wait until Jingzhou was empty to attack Jingzhou.
But from the perspective of Cao Wei, if Soochow did not take the initiative to withdraw from the Huainan area, Cao Wei's main force of Yanzhou County troops would not dare to withdraw from the southeast of Yanzhou. Then the troops to support Hulao Pass would not be enough, and the plan to counterattack Luoyang would not be possible. Don't put it off again and again.
This is the problem faced by Yanzhou. It is either an internal problem or caused by mutual distrust between the outside world and Soochow.
Of course, in addition to this problem, there are also some problems within Soochow that need to be solved by themselves.
Although we have formed an alliance with Cao Wei this time, we can mobilize troops from Huainan to march eastward. If we attack Jingzhou again, our military strength will be sufficient.
However, after Jingzhou has been invaded by the Soochow Army several times, it is impossible to be unprepared. Therefore, the timing, strategy, selection of troops to attack Jingzhou this time, and the route of march all require careful planning.
At this time, the most suitable person to stand up and command the army in battle must be Zhou Yu.
But Zhou Yu was seriously ill and did not recover.
Of course, everyone understands that this is just an excuse. The real reason is that Zhou Yu does not agree with Sun Quan's plan to attack Jingzhou.
The entire strategic plan is too superficial, so superficial that only an individual can understand it.
Cao Wei dared to fight Shu Han Mingpai in the Luoyang area because Cao Wei still had considerable strength in the Heluo area.
They have Hedong County and Hanoi County in the north, half of Henan County east of Hulao Pass in the east, and half of Yingchuan County in the south. They have abundant troop dispatch routes and containment routes, and many executable tactical options. Have enough confidence to deal with Shuhan.
In addition, although the Shu Han captured Luoyang, their foothold was not stable in the end. Most of the Heluo family still preferred the Wei Dynasty. The internal situation was full of various unstable factors. This was one of the reasons why Cao Wei had the confidence to fight in Heluo Mingpai. .
Finally, and the most critical factor - Cao Wei himself has a strong foundation. He has sufficient troops and no shortage of combat power. Even if it is clear that he will fight against the Shu Han, the Shu Han may not be able to withstand Cao Wei's attack.
Jiangdong does not have any of these advantages.
Although we now occupy the four counties of Jingnan, strictly speaking, the four counties of Jingnan do not have much direct contact with the essence of Jingzhou, including Jiangling and Xiangyang. In the Liu Biao era, they were equal to semi-independent forces, and there was no Influenced Liu Biao to govern the entire Jingzhou.
The only advantage is that we occupy Jiangxia County, which is an important area connecting the Yangtze River Waterway and the Han River Waterway, and is also the place that poses the greatest threat to Jiangling. But the problem is that this is obvious. Can Zhang Xi of Jiangling see it? Will Jiangxia not be more vigilant? !
Finally, there is also the issue of military strength and combat power. In recent years, although Soochow has strengthened its soldiers' training in land warfare and siege warfare, due to the limitations of Soochow's military system, this improvement in combat power has not been placed in the overall Within the Soochow Army, it was not so obvious.
Not to mention, you still need to fight against the Jingzhou Army led by Zhang Xi. Didn’t you know that your brother-in-law was famous for being good at military training in his early years? !
By the way, the last and most important point - the leader of the Shu army we will face this time when we attack Jingzhou is your good brother-in-law, Zhang Xi.
When this kid was young, you could bully him, but now... is he so easy to mess with? !
Now that Wei and Wu are negotiating peace, with Zhang Xi's ability, does he know what we are planning, does he know that we will mobilize troops from Huainan, and does he know that the focus of our attack can only be Jiangling? !
If we want to attack Jingzhou, there is only one route of advance, and that is to attack Jiangling first, and then focus on the defense of Xiangyang.
This thing is what that bastard boy is best at. This is how he defended his defense in E County back then, let alone now? !
Yes, we are not without advantages. After this deployment of troops, we will have the upper hand in terms of both military strength and navy strength, so the early stage of the battle should go smoothly.
But if Zhang Xi again chooses to abandon the outlying counties and concentrate his troops to defend it like he did in the previous Battle of Jiangling, wouldn't this be back to the old path of attacking Jingzhou three times without losing it? ! !
As for the hope that Cao Wei will gain the upper hand in Heluo, the Jingzhou army will have to go north to support Heluo. This kind of thing only exists in his imagination and cannot be considered as a prerequisite for combat.
Therefore, Zhou Yu actually disapproved of launching an attack on Jingzhou immediately. Now that he was attacking Jiangling, Shu Han must have taken precautions, and would inevitably end up with a forced attack.
In this case, even if Jiangling can be captured, the elite infantry that Soochow has managed to accumulate over the years will probably suffer heavy losses.
This is very detrimental to the subsequent march north to compete for the Central Plains.
Therefore, Zhou Yu's idea is that Soochow should continue to station troops everywhere, and while Wei and Shu are fighting in the land of Heluo, they should seize the time to develop themselves and practice to improve the Soochow army's land warfare capabilities. When they are exhausted and unable to maintain the situation, Soochow sends troops to fight again. Whether it is to capture Jingzhou or Yanzhou, they will definitely reap the greatest results.
Now, we should stay put and paralyze the enemy first.
However, Sun Quan couldn't listen.
Although what Zhou Yu said makes sense, the problem is that it takes a long time.
Sun Quan is already a bit unequal now.
If you had asked Sun Quan to choose ten years ago, whether to go north to fight for the world or to defend himself according to the natural dangers of the Yangtze River, Sun Quan would certainly hesitate, but in the end he would probably choose to go north to fight for the world.
After all, Sun Quan was only in his thirties at that time, and he still had the energy and time to plan this matter.
But now, Sun Quan is almost fifty and has been the emperor for ten years. For him, some things are slowly dissipating.
Now Sun Quan feels that he probably does not have the time and opportunity to see the day when Wei and Shu fight to the point of exhaustion and allow him to take advantage of the situation and sweep the world.
In this case, maintaining the situation of dividing the world into three parts and leaving a family fortune to future generations has become a more realistic choice.
And attacking Jingzhou is the last insurance for this family fortune.
There are already Huainan and Qingxu lands in the north, which echo each other and serve as the northern barrier against Cao Wei. Then in the west, only Jingzhou is left that has not been captured, and cannot completely occupy the Yangtze River to defend against the Shu Han.
Therefore, Sun Quan now has a very high urgency for Jingzhou and must win it.
Sun Quan's statement let Zhou Yu know that he could not persuade Sun Quan to change his mind. So, what could Zhou Yu do? !
Although this Soochow foundation belongs to Sun Quan, Zhou Yu still believes that he has a responsibility for this foundation.
Therefore, after secretly spying with Sun Quan, Zhou Yu immediately claimed that his old illness had relapsed and that he needed to rest.
After Sun Quan learned that Zhou Yu had "relapsed from an old illness", he immediately ordered people to call Zhu Ran back from Lukou. He appointed Zhu Ran as the governor of Jingnan, taking control of the land and water coalition of the four counties in Jingnan. At the same time, he appointed Zhuge Ke as the prefect of Jiangxia. , replaced Zhang Cheng and guarded Jiangxia.
Finally, Lu Xun was ordered to withdraw his troops from Huainan as soon as possible and return to Jianye to listen.
At about the same time, the situation in the Northland suddenly changed.
In early March of the eighth year of Jianxing's reign, Sima Yi, who was stationed at Hulao Pass, suddenly led his troops out of the pass and besieged Gong County with 30,000 troops.
At the same time, Cao Zhen, who originally stationed troops in Hedong County, also led his troops southward and entered Hanoi County. He joined Sima Division and the two brothers Sima Zhao to confront Huang Quan who was guarding Mengjin Ferry.
The Battle of Heluo officially begins.
Time passed to one month later, in mid-April of the eighth year of Jianxing.
Sun Quan, the great emperor of Wu, worshiped Lu Xun as the general governor in Jianye. He controlled the 150,000 Dongwu amphibious army and immediately raised troops to station in Jiangxia and prepare to attack Jiangling.
At the same time, Zhou Yu, who was supposed to "recuperate" at home, secretly arrived in Wuling County and met with Lu Dai, the prefect of Wuling.
The Battle of Jiangling also officially started.
(End of chapter)
