Fei Zhan didn't know much about the mountains and terrain of Bingzhou. Hearing Xu He praise Guan Yu like this, he felt a little wary.
However, many years of successful experience with the Mountain King and the Tu Emperor made him think that even if Guan Yu could fight, he would not be able to eliminate him, and he did not think that Guan Yu had much ability to uproot their many years of business.
Having been operating in Danyang County for so many years, Fei Zhan can pat his chest and say that no one knows Danyang better than him.
He knows the mountain roads here, the resources here, the water here, everything here.
But Guan Yu didn't understand.
"Bingzhou is Bingzhou, Yangzhou is Yangzhou, this is Danyang, our ancestral homeland, no matter how Guan Yu can attack us, what can he do in the face of our situation where every mountain must be guarded and every mountain road must have an ambush set up? ?
Yes, they can fight with more soldiers, but the mountain road is rugged. No matter how many soldiers they have, the road is only so wide. If the army can't get through, it means it can't get through. We are different. They can't get through. We are familiar with the mountain roads. We can walk. Wait for them. If they get lost in the mountains, wouldn't it be good for us to suddenly rush out and give them a good look? "
It's not that Xu He disagrees with what Fei Zhan said, because Danyang County does have a great geographical advantage. Many previous encirclement and suppression campaigns by the army failed due to this reason.
It is precisely for this reason that Xu He, Sima Ju and others decided to stay here instead of continuing to flee south.
They also don't think Guan Yu can achieve a complete victory. The worst-case scenario is that the two sides will reach a stalemate in the Danyang Mountains, enter a state of confrontation, and start to fight for consumption.
It is difficult to supplement the consumption of the Han army from the local area. The military consumption of tens of thousands of people is too large to be supported by the local area and needs to be transported from other places. In this way, the military cost will be greatly increased.
Can Liu Bei afford a war of attrition?
After gaining a little confidence, the Yellow Turban Army and the Feizhan Group decided to resist resolutely. They would never surrender, never admit defeat, and resist resolutely until complete victory.
Although Guan Yu was strong, they did not think that they had no chance of winning.
Indeed, as they said, after Guan Yu personally inspected the terrain of the battlefield, he changed his mind about using previous tactics in this battle. He believed that the Danyang mountainous area was not suitable for joint operations of large corps, but suitable for small groups of troops to intersperse operations.
However, without familiarity with the terrain and lack of reliable guides, rashly breaking into pieces to fight is a very dangerous behavior and is likely to cause a large number of casualties to the army.
Young player Wei Yan came up with some ideas.
"It would be unwise if the entire army goes deep into the mountains and forests to fight, with the enemy in the dark and us in the light. However, if we do the opposite and lure the thieves out of the mountains and forests to fight, we can also use our army's advantage."
"Easier said than done?"
Guan Yu looked at the young Wei Yan and said with a smile, "What can you do?"
"How about fighting first, and then pretending to retreat, so as to attract the bandit army to pursue?"
Wei Yan said loudly: "If the general agrees, Yan is willing to lead the army to carry out the mission!"
"This won't work. The danger is too great, but the effect may not be good. The opponent also has a lot of combat experience, and is not a simple bandit."
Guan Yu shook his head.
Although he rejected Wei Yan's opinion, Guan Yu really liked Wei Yan. He always felt that he could see himself in Wei Yan more than ten years ago. Back then, he seemed to have the same strong-willed spirit and would be stubborn if he didn't accept it.
But times have changed, and Guan Yu has become General Zhennan. The person in charge of a large military region has tens of thousands of lives on his shoulders. He has long since lost the possibility of doing whatever he wants.
However, following Liu Bei, in addition to learning the serious art of war and battle formations, he also learned some arrogant styles.
Because Liu Bei knows how to make money and has a solid economic foundation, he has a strong sense of style when marching and fighting. He likes to use a lot of equipment in battles to increase the probability of winning and reduce casualties. His main theme is that as long as people are alive, things will be gone if they are gone. .
Quite arrogant.
Guan Yu still remembered that during the previous battle in Bingzhou, considering the necessity of mountain warfare, Liu Bei equipped them with many fire oil tanks. He also specially improved the trebuchet and built a smaller one specially used to throw fire oil tanks. Throwing machine.
What Liu Bei means is that when you encounter a relatively high place, don't always blindly attack it. It is better to throw the heavy fire oil tank over in a safe place, let the fire burn wildly, and let people scream wildly. When the fire is finished, will anyone scream? Now, wouldn’t it be enough to just occupy the open space?
Anyway, most military buildings are made of wood. As long as it doesn't rain, if they are attacked with heavy fire and oil tanks, they will most likely be burned to the ground.
When marching and fighting, you must be good at using the power of water and fire, and you must be good at using the power of things outside you. Anyway, if these things are used up, you can continue to make and use them, but if people are gone, they are really gone.
It is true that these weapons are expensive to make, but it is also true that the value of skilled veterans far exceeds these external possessions.
Guan Yu remembered Liu Bei's instructions to him, so he had a plan in mind.
The mountains in the Danyang area are not so much mountains as they are relatively low hills. Compared with the serious and steep mountains in the Taihang Mountains, the hills in Danyang appear to be even lower and the slope is relatively gentle, making it difficult to climb. It's not very difficult either.
In this way, more places can be used for farming, more people can be fed, and more places can be used to build settlements and military fortresses.
Guan Yu followed Lengshui all the way south, and more than 20 miles northwest of Yuqian County, he began to encounter the defense facilities of the Yellow Turban Army and the Shanyue Group.
They relied on the low hills to build defense facilities and blocked the narrow mountain roads from a high position, leaving Guan Yu's army with no choice - they had to attack these defense facilities and lift the blockade of the mountain roads, otherwise the army would not be able to pass at all.
At this moment, Guan Yu did not order the entire army to launch a general attack. Instead, he asked the technical troops to set up the throwing machines, ignite the heavy fire oil tanks, slowly advance to the launch position, and shoot fiercely at the Yellow Turban Army defense facilities on the hills.
It's normal for heavy rain to fall, and it's normal for heavy snow to fall from the sky. Occasionally, there are strong convective weather, and hail falls from the sky. It's not uncommon for people in this place to see it.
But if it rains fire from the sky, that's something I've never seen before.
A huge fireball fell from the sky, hitting the ground, doors, houses, and military facilities, and then burned fiercely. The wild flames quickly engulfed the original wooden buildings.
There had been heavy snow before and the weather had cleared up for a while. Guan Yu specially chose this sunny day to launch his military operations under the warm winter sun.
The technical soldiers wildly threw burning fire oil tanks. The fire oil tanks kept falling on the hills and into the Yellow Turban Army's defense facilities. The fires were burning, and strangely, it was difficult to use water. extinguished.
The Yellow Turbans in the facility did not give up resistance at the beginning, but resisted hard for a while. Under the command of the officers, they tried to put out the fire with water, but with little success. The burning buildings were not extinguished by water, but burned more and more. The more prosperous.
Even the woods were burned, and thick smoke rose. People could not open their eyes, coughed loudly, and ran around, just trying to breathe a breath of fresh air.
In the end, the more than a thousand Yellow Turban troops in the defense facilities could no longer hold on. After paying the price of hundreds of people being burned to death, they chose to break out.
But a group of troops led by Wei Yan was already waiting for them at the foot of the mountain. The Han army formed a formation and was ready. Facing the Yellow Turban Army's breakthrough, thousands of arrows were fired.
The Yellow Turban Army's breakout was doomed to fail.
In this way, Guan Yu conquered a hill in less than a day.
Guan Yu tasted the sweetness, and the Han army also tasted the sweetness. They felt that they had found a good way to deal with the Yellow Turban Army.
That is to burn, keep burning, keep burning all the way forward, burning him until the sky is dark and the earth is shaking.
So while Guan Yu was marching, he went to Luoyang and asked Luoyang to allocate more fire oil tanks to the battlefield in the south of the Yangtze River. This might also help to completely solve the rebellion in Shanyue.
(End of chapter)
