At the end of October, Guan Yu ordered Meng Da to command the Nanxiang troops and take the lead in attacking and capturing Li County in the northwest of Nanyang. Guan Yu led the main force northward against the Feishui River to once again capture Chaoyang and Xinye, which he had occupied last year.
Starting from the landing at Chaoyang and Xinye, Guan Yu divided the Jingzhou troops into three groups: left, middle and right.
Guan Yu led the left route army to go to the left side of the Feishui River to attack Rangxian and Nieyang; in the middle route, Su Fei and Zhou Cang drove warships to open a route through the Feishui River; on the right route, Guan Ping and Pang De took the right side of the Feishui River to attack Shuoyang and Jiyang. ; Mengda's Nanxiang branch captured Li County, then moved south along the rapids to attack Champion County, and finally joined forces with Guan Yu to lay siege to Wancheng.
Guan Yu's troops and horses appear to be scattered, but in fact they are a unified whole. Among them, the left and right troops advance and retreat together with the navy in the middle. When encountering a large Wei army, they can rely on the warships in the river to fight.
After Su Fei reinforced the Jingbei battlefield, the naval force shifted from being mainly transport to a state of war. Large warships were equipped with fixed shafts, equipped with crossbows and equipment for throwing bolides. These killers The enemy's tools have a very long range and can cause great damage to enemy forces within a certain range on the shore.
Using warships and weapons for land warfare was Guan Yu's original strategy. The main reason was the distribution of cities in Nanyang County. Nanyang had flat terrain and many waterways, including the county where Wancheng, the administrative center, was built along the river.
These cities are usually only a few miles away from the river. It is very convenient for Guan Yu to use the warship as a "mobile turret" or as a camping point at night.
Cao Xiu witnessed Guan Yu's "Mobile Warfare" last year, but this year he was directly stunned by Guan Yu's "Mobile Turret". After encountering several warship attacks on the river bank, the Wei soldiers did not dare to approach the river.
If the Wei army holds on to a certain city, Guan Yu will decisively board the ship to attack another city, or directly cut off the supply route for reinforcements, and will not fight a tough battle with Cao Xiu's people at all. Guan Ping's right army will follow suit and continue to attack the other city. Mobile warfare on the land of Nanyang.
The most important thing is that Guan Yu was confident in this battle. He slowly advanced northward without haste, giving Cao Xiu no chance to find his weakness.
In the prefecture of Wancheng, there were reports of battles being attacked somewhere. Cao Xiu was like Cao Zhen who left Hexi. His hair and beard turned white at an accelerated rate in two months.
By the end of December, all the counties south of Wancheng had been lost. The Nanyang defenders suffered losses of nearly 20,000, while the Jingzhou soldiers only suffered more than 3,000 casualties. The gap in strength between the two armies gradually decreased.
Cao Xiu was full of bitterness and helplessness. He deployed 80,000 troops and horses around Wancheng, planning to start a decisive battle with Guan Yu outside Wancheng.
After Meng Da defeated Champion County, he joined forces with Guan Yu's left army. The soldiers and horses of these groups fought very decisively. After occupying the city, they emptied the treasury and left. They would not leave any troops to guard the newly captured city. Guan Yu had to concentrate a limited number of troops. Strength continued the Northern Expedition.
After pulling out all the cities in the south of Wancheng, Jingzhou's three armies on the left, center and right marched together towards Wancheng in the north. However, when the army reached 50 miles south of Wancheng, the 30,000 Jingzhou soldiers on the left side of Feishui suddenly all Cross the river to the other side and join forces with Guan Ping and Pang De's right-wing troops.
Cao Xiu looked at the map on the case and fell into deep thought, while Cao Zhang on the side raised his yellow eyebrows angrily, "Guan Yu is addicted to using warships. When the water reaches the south of Wancheng, he changes his route to the east, and after fifty miles, he goes north again. This Do you want to fight us against the river?"
"I don't understand." Zhang He shook his head.
Zhang He originally thought that the Yongliang battlefield, where there were Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Ma Chao, Zhao Yun and others, would be miserable enough for the Wei army there, but he didn't expect that it would be even more painful when he came to Nanyang. Guan Yu's fighting style was simply unpredictable, much worse than his own in Yongliang. It was even more painful at that time. Every time Wei Jun attacked, it was like hitting the soft mud, unable to hurt the opponent at all.
"Warships, what King Ren Cheng said is absolutely right. Guan Yu used warships to fool us around. He can come and go and hit us freely, but we can't effectively fight back. Wei's disadvantage in water warfare is too fatal." Cao Xiu shook his head. .
"Last year, Guan Yu was transporting troops by ship. Da Sima should have made up for the loss and mobilized civilians to block the river in Nanyang. Now he won't be so passive." Cao Zhang raised his eyes, with a hint of reproach in his words.
Cao Xiu laughed dumbly: "Back then, General Zixiao was in front of Tu Wancheng, and the late emperor moved the people to the north. You should know that the local people were very resentful. If I blocked the rivers in the territory, and floods flooded the fields in summer, how could the people have a harvest? Such kind of Even if the order is issued, no one will carry it out, and it might even trigger a civil uprising."
"But weren't those lands now occupied by Guan Yu in the end? It's all because of your lack of decisiveness that the disaster of Wei today happened." Cao Zhang's ridicule was not directed at Cao Xiu, but mainly because he was worried about Cao Pi.
Cao Xiu heard this very harshly. Although Cao Zhang was indeed a king, he was the chief commander of the Wei State and held the military power of the country. Even Cao Zhang should observe etiquette.
Cao Zhang's outrageous behavior was equivalent to slapping himself crazily in front of Zhang He, but Cao Xiu endured it and said in a deep voice: "King Rencheng is like a god with his troops. When we fight Guan Yu in the future, we will use you as the vanguard general." ."
"Uh, I didn't mean that." Cao Zhang realized that he had made a mistake and quickly lowered his tone to try to ease the situation.
Cao Xiu replied calmly: "Your Majesty sent the city king here because he is worried that Guan Yu is very brave and you are the only one who can check and balance the whole country, so there is no need to be modest anymore. I will naturally act according to your orders."
"Uh, okay." Cao Zhangxin said that Guan Yu was old and might not dare to fight on the battlefield in person. Lan Ji, who fought Zhang Liao for 300 rounds, was just a young boy bullying the veteran. He believed that he would not lose in his prime.
"General Zhang, order the scouts to continue to investigate and monitor Guan Yu's movements closely, and report immediately if there are any changes." Cao Xiu ordered in a deep voice.
"only."
After Zhang He said this, he clasped his fists and left. He was thinking that you Cao family members are grudges against each other, so don't let me, an outsider, get hurt.
After Guan Yu's left troops crossed the river and reached the east bank, the warship continued to advance at a constant speed. It was already dusk outside Wancheng, so he arranged for the troops to camp on the south bank of the Feishui River.
Hundreds of warships in the river were crisscrossed to form a city wall, blocking the cold wind blowing from the north at night. Fires shone on the ground under the starry sky, and dozens of miles of battalions illuminated the river beach.
Because of the Feishui River and the surrounding Jingzhou warships, Cao Xiu did not dare to send troops across the river to rob the camp. The scouts stayed in the north of the river all night, drinking in the cold wind and monitoring the enemy forces on the south bank.
Early the next morning, Zhang He rushed into the government office in a panic.
"Da Sima, something bad happened." Zhang He was sweating all over because he was wearing thick winter clothes, and he was breathing white mist.
"Could it be that Guan Yu has already started to cross the river?" Cao Xiu asked with a frown.
Zhang He swallowed his saliva, waved his hand and replied: "Guan Yu did not cross the river, but continued eastward along the Feishui River. I have no idea what Guan Yu was thinking."
"Looking further, maybe Guan Yu is unwilling to cross the river under our noses, and plans to change places to cross the river smoothly and form an array. In short, we should pay close attention and prepare the soldiers of each battalion for battle."
"only."
(End of chapter)
