Zhang Xi's procrastination in Jiangling not only affected his decision-making, but also gave Zhou Yu a headache.
Why is this product so oily and salty? !
You have already set up such an obvious posture to attack Xiangyang, but you haven't quickly dispatched the Jiangling garrison to support Xiangyang. What are you waiting for? !
If you go to rescue Xiangyang without dividing your troops, the next thing I will do will be a bit difficult to handle.
Moreover, the Ligyang County and Shi Bao in front of him are also unknown masters.
I have been attacking you for thirteen consecutive days, and the tactic of surrounding three buildings has been deployed. If you don't quickly retreat to the police with your remaining meager strength, why are you continuing to hold on here? ? !
Now things are stuck. Zhou Yu wants to make the next action plan, but his opponent doesn't cooperate at all, which makes Zhou Yu a little confused.
How about just conquering Lingyang directly? !
Or should we leave a small number of troops to guard Ling Yang, and directly order Zhu Ran's navy to take action regardless of the reactions of Ling Yang and Jiang Ling? !
But if they do this, I am afraid that the next battle will return to a head-to-head fight, which will make the series of tactical arrangements Zhou Yu made previously in vain.
Yes, in fact, the main target of the Soochow Army's attack this time was not Xiangyang, but still Jiangling.
However, considering that the Jiangling garrison has more than 50,000 people, including the public security, Lingyang and other places, there are more than 60,000 people. If a frontal attack is carried out, even if Soochow can be defeated, its own casualties will not be small. .
Therefore, Zhou Yu discussed with Sun Quan and planned this combat operation.
First, Zhou Yu claimed to be ill, and Sun Quan appointed Lu Xun as his general to deceive others. In fact, Zhou Yu had already set out for Changsha County at that time, began to mobilize troops from the three counties, and secretly marched to Wuling County to join Lu Dai.
Then, Sun Quan used an excuse to leave Lu Xun in Jiangdong to gather Jiangdong County soldiers, making it appear that Lu Xun was staying in Jianye, but in fact, Lu Xun would also set out secretly, leading a part of Jiangdong County soldiers who had assembled in advance and Huainan County troops who had withdrawn from Huainan. Together with the soldiers, they arrived in Jiangxia.
After that, Zhuge Ke took the initiative to attack Ying County and advanced with light troops in order to attract Zhang Xi's eyes and ears and provide cover for Zhu Ran's naval operations. After replacing the Jiangxia navy stationed in Xiakou, the Jiangxia navy stationed in Zhang Xi Under the leadership of Cheng, he led 10,000 land troops and 20,000 naval troops, marched north along the Han River, and assumed a posture of threatening Xiangyang.
At the same time, Lu Dai will lead 30,000 soldiers from Jingnan County to besiege Lingyang, attracting the rescue of Jiangling defenders. At the same time, he will cooperate with Zhuge Ke's 20,000 soldiers to attack Ying County, creating a threat that the Soochow Army will hold back. Jiangling garrison prevented them from supporting Xiangyang, thereby deepening Zhang Xi's misjudgment that Soochow's main attack direction was Xiangyang.
After Zhang Xi really divides his troops and goes north to rescue Xiangyang, Zhu Ran, who is stationed in Xiakou, will suddenly lead the navy southward, trying to defeat the Jiangling navy in a battle and cut off the direct retreat of the public security defenders, and Zhou Yu will also attack in Jingnan. The flank defenders of Jiangling carried out encirclement and annihilation.
As for the direction of Ying County, Zhou Yu actually prepared it with both hands.
If Zhuge Ke's sending troops prompted Zhang Xi to take the initiative to send soldiers from Jiangling to encircle and suppress them, then Zhuge Ke would immediately choose to retreat, attracting the generals and defenders to pursue them, and Lu Xun, who was well prepared, would also send troops in advance to cooperate with Zhuge Ke in encircling and annihilating them. Detach the Jiangling garrison from the city, and then directly attack Jiangling without worrying about whether other plans are implemented in place.
After all, if the main force of Jiangling's defenders leaves the city but is annihilated, not to mention the insufficient defensive forces in Jiangling City, their morale will inevitably be greatly damaged, so they can just attack by force.
However, Zhou Yu felt that there was a high probability that Zhang Xi would not act so recklessly and allow himself to gain such advantage for nothing.
Therefore, Zhou Yu believed that Zhang Xi would most likely ignore Zhuge Ke and continue to stand still.
And if Zhang Xi allowed Zhuge Ke to ignore him, Lu Xun would continue to lead his troops and wait in Jiangxia. When Jiangling sent reinforcements to Xiangyang, his own guards were insufficient, and Zhu Ran cut off the return channel of the public security defenders, Lu Xun immediately Send troops from Jiangxia and attack Jiangxia directly.
The overall combat idea is like this. We still need to use the strategy of dividing the troops to disperse the Jiangling defenders. However, unlike previous battles, Zhou Yu did not attack the public security or the counties south of Jiangling to thin the Jiangling defenders this time. A large one created the illusion that Soochow was going to attack Xiangyang, and wanted to transfer the Jiangling garrison from the Jiangling boundary to the Xiangyang boundary.
If Zhang Xi discovers that something is wrong when attacking the Public Security Bureau or Jiangling counties, he will definitely shrink his troops and return to defend Jiangling.
But if the Jiangling garrison is transferred to support Xiangyang, then this army will not be able to come back in a short time, Jiangling will fall into a state of insufficient troops, and the hope of conquering Jiangling will be greatly increased.
Even in order to make Zhang Xi fall into the trap, Zhou Yu deliberately played a trick on Li Dai Tao and used the method of diverting Lukou troops north to Jiangxia to make smoke bombs. After Zhang Xi learned that Xiangyang was attacked, he deepened his misunderstanding that Soochow was going to attack Xiangyang. Judgment.
If it was just a suspicion of military tactics, there would be no need to go to such great lengths and just let the Jiangxia navy go north, right? ! !
Really, Zhou Yu had already calculated every possible reaction of Zhang Xi that he could think of, even the cautious and almost timid character of this guy, so he was not afraid that Zhang Xi would not fall into the trap this time.
Well, that was the plan. When Zhang Xi suddenly learned that the main force of the Soochow navy was heading north to attack Fancheng, theoretically he would not continue to struggle in Jiangling. After all, Xiangyang was much more important than Jiangling.
If Jiangling is lost, if Xiangyang is in hand, he still retains the ability to continue the fight, but if Xiangyang is lost, Jiangling cannot be defended for a long time. Zhou Yu does not believe that Zhang Xi cannot understand this truth.
Therefore, Zhou Yu really didn't understand what Zhang Xi was doing in Jiangling City when the fighting started in Xiangyang! !
Hurry up and lead the troops to rescue Xiangyang! ! !
Well, maybe Zhang Xi still has his own ideas in it, or in other words, Zhang Xi hasn't completely made up his mind yet. It's not impossible to wait a little longer.
But Zhou Yu really couldn't understand the stone in front of him.
What the hell are you wasting with me here? !
Five thousand people defended a county town that was besieged by 30,000 people, and it was besieged for ten days. The casualties among the army were not small. Now I have three sieges and an escape route has been arranged for you. If you don't hurry up, lead the troops. Retreat, what to do in the city? !
Zhou Yu really didn't understand what Shi Bao was doing. According to the intelligence before the war, Shi Bao, the guard of Lingyang County, was the kind of person who had some ability but poor character.
This kind of person would not be the kind of reckless man who would fight to the death, nor would he be the kind of loyal person who would die for his country. The fact that he would not run away from the current situation was really beyond Zhou Yu's expectation. .
To a certain extent, Zhou Yu really didn't predict Shi Bao's character wrongly. Shi Bao was indeed not the kind of person who would sacrifice for justice. But the problem was that Zhou Yu underestimated Shi Bao's ability.
Shi Bao is not the kind of person with "some ability", but the kind of person with great ability.
At least in terms of situation control and strategic judgment, Shi Bao has his own understanding and judgment.
If Zhou Yu chooses to continue the siege of Lingyang County, 30,000 people versus 5,000 people, and if he can't hold it, he will retreat. Even if he needs to risk his life to break out, Shi Bao will not hesitate at all.
But it happened that Zhou Yu had such an obvious advantage and continued to attack for ten days, causing heavy casualties to the defenders of Lingyang County. However, on the eleventh day, he adopted the approach of surrounding three buildings. Shi Bao was stupid. ! ! !
If he really leads his troops to break through the only gap, Shi Bao can bet that Zhou Yu will lead the army to follow closely, driving Shi Bao and others back to the public security along the way, and then rely on the chaos of Lingyang's defeated army to disrupt the morale of the public security defenders. , take advantage of the situation, there is no difficulty at all.
These days, the military is in chaos. No matter how many troops there are, defeat is only a matter of time.
Therefore, if Shi Bao wants to withdraw, he certainly cannot withdraw when your Soochow army has just surrounded Sanque Yi. He has to choose the time and route of retreat by himself.
However, the next development of the war was beyond Shi Bao's expectations.
During the ten-day siege, the Soochow Army's attack was very fierce, but once the siege was over, the intensity of the attack actually dropped.
That’s not to say that Soochow’s attack is no longer a threat. The threat is still very high. After all, the number of Lingyang’s defenders has dropped sharply to about 3,000. Even if Soochow sends 10,000 people to attack, they may break through Lingyang at any time. Yang County.
However, compared to when 30,000 people took turns attacking in a wheel-to-wheel battle, the pressure was obviously much less.
So the question arises - where did Soochow's remaining 20,000 troops go? !
If Li Qiu were to guard Lingyang instead, he might not have thought of that much, but the person guarding Lingyang now is Shi Bao.
Shi Bao carefully observed the map for a while and came to a bold guess - the 20,000 Dongwu soldiers who disappeared had most likely taken a detour to the area between Lingyang and Gong'an, looking for an opportunity to set up an ambush.
Once Shi Bao chooses to retreat to the police and Li Qiu sends troops to respond, things will get serious.
If one thing is not done well, all the more than 10,000 soldiers on the south bank of the Yangtze River will be trapped here and will not be able to return to Jiangling at all.
Shi Bao didn't have enough intelligence at hand. He didn't know what it would mean if the more than 10,000 soldiers on the south bank of the Yangtze River were unable to return to defend Jiangling, but he knew that since you Soochow want to do this, of course I can't just let you have your way.
Shi Bao immediately wrote a letter, asking his guards to climb over the wall and leave the city at night to deliver a message to Li Qiu of the public security department, asking him to stay as still as possible and not to easily come to meet him.
At the same time, Shi Bao also asked Li Qiu to send the current situation of the police to Lingyang and his speculations to Jiangling as soon as possible and leave it to Zhang Shijun to make a decision.
Shi Bao always felt that Soochow was probably playing a big game.
(End of chapter)
