Zhu Ran was busy arranging his own defense deployment, while on Jiangling's side, Zhang Xi, Pang Tong, Wang Ji, and Shi Bao also began to meet to formulate specific strategies for the southern expedition.
As the coach, Zhang Xi of course put forward his own strategic concept first.
"I intend to station troops in Wulin, and I will personally lead the land and sea army to attack Changsha County. In fact, I will send partial troops to attack Wuling County. They will enter from Wuling County and attack Wuling, Lingling, and Guiyang counties all the way. Finally, they will join our army in Changsha. Attacked from two sides, Jingnan will be defeated in one battle."
As Zhang Xi spoke, he drew circles on the map, showing his strategy in detail.
To put it simply, it was a plan to build a plank road openly and covertly to attract Zhu Ran to a decisive battle on the Yangtze River near Changsha. In fact, the real winner lies in the sneak attack on Wuling County and other three counties.
At least judging from the current intelligence, Zhang Xi's strategy is still very feasible.
The advantage of stationing troops in Wulin is that it can not only suppress the Zhu Ran Army on the other side of the Yangtze River, but also contain Zhuge Ke's Jiangxia Army. After all, it is actually quite close to enter Jiangxia from Wulin.
As for the division of troops to attack Wuling County, Wuling County now only has 15,000 defense personnel including the police. As long as the surprise attack is carried out quickly enough, it is not impossible to break through Wuling County.
And once Wuling County is defeated, Lingling County in the south and Guiyang County in the east don't have many troops to contend with the push all the way, so it is not impossible.
However, Pang Tong still raised questions.
"Who does Yuan Chang want to send as the commander-in-chief to lead the partial army?! How many troops should he lead?! If Wuling is temporarily difficult to disembark, what will happen?!"
Since it is a partial division, the number of commanders will not be too many, so the choice of commander is very important.
Moreover, it is also necessary to consider what the next countermeasures will be if Wuling County is temporarily difficult to conquer like Shibao's sneak attack last time.
Faced with Pang Tong's question, Zhang Xi smiled slightly and said, "The main force is pretending to attack Changsha. If I don't arrive, Zhu Ran won't believe it. Shi Yuan has a good reputation. If he is not in the main force, it will inevitably make people suspicious. Therefore, you Both of us need to follow the army and move separate divisions. I intend to have Shi Zhongrong lead the army, assisted by Jiang Boyue and Pan Chengming, and command 30,000 troops to raid Wuling."
After Zhang Xi finished speaking, Pang Tong thought silently for a while and nodded slightly.
Of course, Zhang Xi's words only answered the first two questions of Pang Tong. In fact, Zhang Xi did not answer the last question, how to deal with Wuling County once he failed to capture it.
But the problem is that everyone is smart. Zhang Xi doesn't need to explain some things clearly, Pang Tong can understand them himself.
This choice of commander, Shi Bao, was the one who ravaged Wuling County in the last war, and as the commander of the partial division, there was nothing surprising.
He is familiar with geography, and his cooperation with the Wuxi Barbarians in Wuling County was very good last time. The two parties have a relationship with Weng and his son-in-law. This time he sends troops to Wuling County, Shi Bao may be able to incite the Wuxi Barbarians to cooperate with the Han army again. Besieged Wuling County.
Needless to say, Jiang Wei, since Zhang Xi sent Jiang Wei to this team, it means that Zhang Xi planned to arrange the 20,000-strong Southern Army in this partial division team to use the combat effectiveness of the Southern Army to ensure a sneak attack. Success rate.
The purpose of sending Pan Jun as deputy general was to deal with the problem of what to do if the sneak attack on Wuling was unfavorable.
It's very simple. Pan Jun has been the prefect of Lingling County for more than ten years. Although he had no choice but to withdraw to Jiangling in the end, Pan Jun still has the connections among officials in Lingling County.
Once the forceful attack on Wuling County is unfavorable, Pan Jun can directly lead his troops southward to Lingling County in a detour, use his prestige in Lingling County to persuade Lingling County officials to surrender, and then mobilize troops to attack Wuling County in turn. Under the attack from both front and rear, Wuling County The county must be destroyed.
This matter is not difficult to guess, not to mention that as early as two months ago, Zhang Xi had already begun instructing the aristocratic families in northern Jingbei to get in touch with the aristocratic families in Jingnan, and to persuade these aristocratic families to surrender. , naturally, Pan Jun’s handwriting is indispensable.
In this case, indeed, the success of the raid on the three counties will be greatly increased.
However, this is only based on the fact that there are only 15,000 people guarding Lingling County.
"If Zhu Ran increases his troops to Lingling County in advance, what will Yuan Chang do?!"
You can't think of all the good things that happen to you. Zhu Ran is not an idiot. We have been using troops in Wuling County in recent years. Zhu Ran must be a little cautious no matter what, right? !
If Zhu Ran increases his troops to Wuling County in advance, Wuling County will not be so easy to fight. Even if you can wipe out Lingling County in the south first, you don't dare to attack Changsha together before Wuling County is captured.
The most they can do is to besiege Wuling County, and eventually it will turn into a stalemate between the two families to see who can last the most.
"In this case, we can only attack Changsha from the front!"
Zhang Xi said helplessly.
If Zhu Ran really deployed defenses in Wuling County in advance, with a partial force of 30,000 people, it would be difficult to defeat Wuling County in a short time. The real decisive victory will ultimately depend on the outcome of the Yangtze River water battle.
But in this case, although Zhang Xi is certain to win, the chance of winning is really not too high.
After all, it was the Soochow Navy. Even if Yang Xi could really win, his casualties would probably not be small.
To be honest, Zhang Xi didn't want to go to that point, so Zhang Xi asked Pang Tong for advice and asked, "Brother Shi Yuan, does he have a better strategy? It might as well be said that Xi Ding should act according to the plan."
This is the purpose of holding a military meeting. Everyone discusses with each other, points out shortcomings, and finally formulates a combat plan with a relatively higher success rate.
Pang Tong was naturally not polite and said, "Yuan Chang might as well station troops in Wulin first and postpone the partial division operations. If Wuling has few soldiers, Yuan Chang will act according to his plan. But if Wuling has many soldiers, why doesn't Yuan Chang change his mind and attack Jiangxia?!"
"Attack Jiangxia?!" Zhang Xi was slightly surprised, then lowered his head and pondered.
Wang Ji stood up and spoke at this time, "The attack on Jiangxia also requires the help of the navy. However, if the Jiangling navy wants to enter Jiangxia, it must first defeat the Baqiu navy. And Xiakou is also guarded by the Dongwu navy, but there is no navy to help us. Even if we can get The north of Jiangxia cannot be reached south of Jiangxia."
Pang Tong smiled and replied, "Why did Bo Yu say that there is no navy?! Wen Zhongye has 20,000 sailors coming down from the Han River. Can't they help my army?!"
Wang Ji was stunned for a moment, and then fell into thinking.
Wenpin's navy can come over to help, but the problem is that Wenpin's navy can only go down the Han River at most. It is unclear whether it can defeat the Soochow navy in Xiakou. Even if it is defeated, it is not necessarily possible. Um? !
Wang Ji suddenly discovered Pang Tong's true intention and looked at Zhang Xi.
Zhang Xi also understood at almost the same time and said, "Shi Yuan's intention is to feign an attack on Jiangxia, send the Baqiu Navy to the north to help, and then divert the troops to make a surprise attack on Changsha?!"
If you think about it carefully, it's not impossible to do this.
The Jiangling Navy troops approached Baqiu, the Xiangyang Navy troops approached Xiakou, and Zhang Xi led his troops to garrison in Wulin. If they attacked Jiangxia, Zhu Ran would not be able to sit idly by.
In terms of geographical location, Jiangxia is much more important than the four counties in Jingnan.
The four counties in Jingnan were the springboard for Soochow to attack Jiangling, but Jiangxia was the defensive barrier for the Jiangdong region.
Losing the four southern counties of Jing would at most mean losing the opportunity to attack Jiangling, but losing Jiangxia would mean that Soochow would face the pressure of the Han army's southward attack at any time.
Therefore, Zhu Ran will definitely not sit back and watch Jiangxia lose. Once the two naval forces in Jingzhou come out, Zhu Ran will definitely lead the Baqiu navy to help defend Jiangxia.
In this case, Changsha would have no defense capabilities.
A sneak attack on Changsha might really be feasible.
But Pang Tong still shook his head and said, "The partial army still surprises Wuling County and pretends to attack Jiangxia, but it is just to mobilize the Changsha navy. Naturally, the army cannot last long when the Changsha navy is mobilized. Although Zhu Ran has no general plan, this point is still He can see clearly, so he will definitely mobilize troops from Wuling County and other places to help defend Changsha."
Okay, the rest goes without saying, everyone can understand it.
After going around in a big circle, Pang Tong's intention was still to divide Wuling's troops.
If Zhu Ran had not reinforced Wuling County in advance, Zhang Xi's strategy would have been enough to conquer the four counties in Jingnan.
But if Zhu Ran increased his troops to Wuling County in advance and faced the navy's two-pronged attack on Xiakou, and the army might take advantage of the situation to attack Jiangxia, or cross the river to attack Changsha, Zhu Ran would not only have to assist in the defense of Xiakou, but also If there are enough troops to defend Changsha, the only option is to bring back the reinforcements transferred to Wuling County and demolish the east wall to make up for the west wall.
only
"If Zhu Ran is unmoved and orders the Xiakou Navy to fight against the Xiangyang Navy alone, while the Baqiu Navy is still staying in Changsha, what can we do?!" Shi Bao hesitated and asked.
Our navy is not capable of crushing the Soochow navy, right? !
There are also 20,000 Dongwu Navy troops in Xiakou, so they are not necessarily afraid of the Xiangyang Navy led by Wenpin in Xiangyang.
As long as Jiangxia doesn't ask for help, or if Zhu Ran doesn't go north to help defend, then what can we do to them? !
Pang Tong glanced at Shi Bao slightly, and then said, "If this is the case, it will be enough for us to capture the northern border of Jiangxia and Yangtze River and overwhelming Chaisang."
Without assistance in defense, how could Jiangxia's few infantrymen be used to defend the city withstand the strong attack of the Han's 100,000 infantrymen? !
By that time, all the counties north of the Yangtze River in Jiangxia will inevitably be lost. The Han soldiers will suppress Chaisang across the river. Do you think Sun Quan can bear it? !
(End of chapter)
