Chapter 196 Guan Yu vs. Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan (Part )

December fifteenth.

Qichun County, Jiangxia Prefecture.

Having not received any news from Sun Jian, Jin Mao was not prepared to wait any longer.

Although things became simpler with Sun Jian's help, it would still be a problem if we continued to waste time.

The daily consumption of food and supplies is a big problem.

In addition, all the arrangements that needed to be made have been completed, and Jinmao must start taking action regardless of whether Sun Jian is in place or not.

He has always been prepared for both situations.

The army was established in the north of Qichun County, opposite the Nanshui Fort of the Yangtze River, forming a triangle.

The Chinese military tent.

The opponent this time is different from the past. Jin Mao doesn’t know that he will be competing against Cao Cao and Yuan Shu.

However, the combat capability of the regular army should not be underestimated, and underestimating the opponent is likely to lead to failure.

"This time, E County and Zhu County are poorly equipped. Who is willing to be the vanguard?"

Jin Mao sat at the top, looking at the civil and military officials on his left and right.

Standing on the left are scholars such as Xi Zhicai, Xun You, and Zhou Yu.

On the right, from front to back, stand Huang Gai, Ling Cao, Guan Yu, Dong Xi, Gong Lei, Zhang Fei and other generals.

"My Lord, leave the vanguard to me!"

Before anyone else came out, Zhang Fei's loud voice drowned out everything else.

"Give me three thousand men and horses. Not only the two counties, but even Jiangxia County will be given to you!"

Ling Cao stepped out unconvinced and said, "My lord, I only want two thousand soldiers!"

Dong Xi was even more stupid: "My Lord, I only need a thousand men!"

Ever since the two foreign generals Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were rapidly upgraded, the original generals under Jin Mao have been very dissatisfied.

Since ancient times, there has been no first in literature and no second in martial arts.

Except for those who had self-awareness, such as Gong Lei, all the generals were dissatisfied with the two.

Why were all the good jobs given to the two foreign generals? It’s not that I question Jinmao’s decision, but I think Jinmao is too partial.

For more than half a year, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had no outstanding military achievements.

Even if Guan Yu's ability in governing is good, no military general would care about this stuff.

"Kun Tao (Ling Cao), why are you causing trouble?"

Jin Mao scolded without mercy: "And you Yuan Dai (Dong Xi)!"

"War is no joke!"

"If you don't want to live, don't take your soldiers with you to die!"

After a scolding, Ling Cao and Dong Xi lowered their heads, while Zhang Fei grinned widely, as if he had won.

Unexpectedly, Jin Mao turned around and scolded Zhang Fei: "Zhang Yide, you have brains but not much!"

"E and Zhu counties are backed by the Yangtze River. If the enemy army crosses the river, how can you get through without a navy?"

Zhang Fei suddenly had an idea: "The two counties are backed by mountains and forests, I will go through there."

Jin Mao laughed and scolded: "You know nothing about mountain warfare!"

Zhang Fei's eyes widened, unable to refute.

"In this battle, E and Zhu counties are not important places."

After correcting the arrogance of the soldiers and generals, Jin Mao finally revealed his real purpose.

"The most important purpose of this vanguard is to find out the enemy's main force strength and movements, and adjust the strategy according to the situation."

"Your courage is commendable, but fighting cannot be done with brute force alone. You also need brains."

Jin Mao stood up and pointed out the location of Xiling County, the capital of Jiangxia County, on the Feng Shui map of Jiangxia County.

"The terrain around this county is flat and the city walls are solid. A forceful attack is not a wise choice."

"If our army surrounds E and Zhu counties and opens up the northern plains, the enemy can easily provide support."

"If it were you, would you support the two counties and draw the battle line between them?"

"After all, this location is easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as we block the invasion from the south, we can easily stop our army from invading."

Huang Gai frowned and thought. Guan Yu always felt that he had missed important information. Ling Cao and Dong Xi had just been scolded and dared not say a word.

Zhang Fei shouted: "Why bother so much, sir? I think it's better to attack the city once than to attack it twice!"

"I feel that the catapult is very impressive. How long can a strong city hold out?"

Jin Mao ignored it and looked at the scholar.

Xi Zhicai said uncertainly: "I have read in military books that during the reign of Emperor Wu, the famous general Geng Yan used a similar strategy to attack Zhang Bu."

At that time, Zhang Bu ordered his generals to station their troops in the two cities of Lixia and Juli in Jinan. The commander of Lixia was Fei Yi, and the commander of Juli was his younger brother Fei Gan.

Geng Yan knew that Lixia City was strong and the enemy troops were numerous, so it would be difficult to take the city by force, so he thought of "besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements."

He pretended to launch a fierce attack on Juli City and sent spies to confuse Fei Yi, saying that he would launch a fierce attack on Juli City in three days.

When Fei Yi heard the news, he panicked. After all, Juli City was also a fortress. So three days later, Fei Yi led 30,000 elite troops to Juli.

Geng Yan thus eliminated Feiyi's elite troops, and successively captured the cities of Jinan and Jushi. He then fought and conquered many battles, defeated Zhang Bu, and recovered all of Qingzhou and part of Xuzhou.

This person is also the subject of the evaluation that "where there is a will, there is a way."

Jin Mao was stunned. He didn't expect that someone would use the tactic of "siege the point and attack the reinforcements" so early.

"Yes, I intend to use this strategy."

Now that he has been exposed, Jinmao has no reason to deny it.

Xi Zhicai shook his head and said, "I'm afraid this plan cannot be implemented."

"My lord, you must understand one thing. The enemy general is not a bandit. He must have read military books. He will understand such a simple strategy."

"Besides, the situation is different from Geng Yan's."

Xi Zhicai explained: "No matter how you look at it, E and Zhu counties are not worth rescuing."

"If I were an enemy general, I would only hold on to Xiling County. This way, I could not only form a pincer attack with the Jingzhou navy, but also block our army's advance."

Jin Mao nodded involuntarily. The area south of the Yangtze River in Jiangxia County was all swampland, which was not suitable for a large army to march.

If we cross Jiuling Mountain, it would be better to pass through Changsha County and attack all the way north.

The result is the same, but there are more paths to choose from.

Unfortunately, Sun Jian did not come to cooperate.

"What does Zhicai have to teach me?"

Xi Zhicai cupped his hands and said, "The strategy of besieging a point and attacking its reinforcements is not unacceptable."

"Just change the target to Xiling County."

This actually makes sense. After taking down Xiling County, Jiangxia County would basically be smooth sailing with no obstacles in sight.

If we take the opportunity to destroy the Jingzhou navy, then the area south of Jingzhou will be cleared. In the future, we can look for opportunities to conquer Nanyang County to the north of Jingzhou and the other half of Jiangxia and Nan County, and then the entire Jingzhou will be in our hands.

"good."

Jin Mao adopted Xi Zhicai's suggestion and said, "Then we should occupy the two counties first and move the camp forward."

All of a sudden, the vanguard mission changed from siege and capture of strongholds to infrastructure construction.

The three generals who originally danced the most happily are now the most silent.

“Who wants to be the pioneer?”

Huang Gai, Guan Yu, Gong Lei and other generals came out one after another to ask for instructions.

"Order!"

"Huang Gai led the navy to dredge the waterway, and Guan Yu assisted him as deputy general to capture Zhu County."

"Gong Lei led 3,000 troops as a detachment to capture E County."

"A new naval camp will be built in Zhu County, and two more land camps will be built."

"Here!"

The generals took the order and left.

The vanguard army consisted of 8,000 people, with food and supplies loaded on transport ships. The 50,000 civilians were divided into two parts, one part of 20,000 followed the vanguard army to set up a preliminary camp.

The second part of 30,000 people was escorted by 5,000 troops led by Ling Cao and set off a day later.

Jin Mao led more than 33,000 mixed troops and stayed in the rear.

...

Xiling County.

Cai Mao had arrived with 10,000 Jingzhou naval troops and was building a water fort. Cai Mao agreed to all Yuan Shu's conditions, since he didn't have to pay for it anyway.

Therefore, the Jingzhou navy regained 60% to 70% of its combat power. Cai Mao believed that as long as the water fort was built, it would be enough to resist Jin Mao's 10,000 navy.

Cao Cao also arrived with his army.

In this execution in Jingzhou, Cao Cao was the biggest winner. The three thousand sets of junk he got from Yuan Shu, plus the four thousand sets of defective products he later got from the Jingzhou navy, were more than enough to equip his five thousand men.

Now, Cao Cao has two thousand cavalry and three thousand infantry under his command, all fully armed.

Regardless of the degree of damage to their weapons, they are still considered the elite of the entire army.

Cao Cao planned to take the extra 3,000 sets of rags back to Chenliu County and give them to the county governor Zhang Miao.

During this conscription, Zhang Miao provided great help to Cao Cao. Except for 1,500 private soldiers under his command, the remaining 3,500 people all came from Zhang Miao's army.

There was no way. Ever since Zhang Miao was robbed by Jin Mao last time, only more than 2,000 of the more than 10,000 soldiers were armed, and the number of armors was pitifully small.

These soldiers have received basic training and are just sitting there doing nothing, so it would be better to send them to Cao Cao and make a good impression on him.

Therefore, even if Cao Cao gave these more than 3,000 sets of junk to Zhang Miao, it would be enough for Zhang Miao to make his money back and also earn Cao Cao's favor.

Cao Cao stationed his troops in the south of Xiling County.

This will be the front line of the battlefield.

Yuan Shu was not stupid enough to confront Jin Mao head-on, so he led 8,000 men to station in the north of Xiling County.

The pretext was to guard against enemies from the north.

There's a devilish enemy in the north!

That is Yuan Shu's own territory. Is he still on guard against his own people?

Although Cao Cao was disdainful of this, he did not argue.

Cao Cao is different from Yuan Shu. The one who took benefits from others but did not do anything was Yuan Shu.

At least Cao Cao still has some professional ethics as a mercenary.

this day.

Cai Mao brought bad news.

"Jinmao has made a move. He just took over Zhu and E counties the day before yesterday and is setting up camp."

"Meng De, should we attack and test the situation?"

Cao Cao had come for this purpose, and he immediately ordered: "Cao Ren and Cao Hong, lead 3,000 infantrymen to continue camping."

"Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, lead two thousand cavalrymen and follow me to the battle!"

Then, Cao Cao held Cai Mao's hands and said, "Degui, the water route is now in your hands."

Cai Mao assured: "Just go with peace of mind, I will take care of the rest!"

December 20th.

Cao Cao led two thousand cavalrymen and arrived twenty miles outside Zhu County, but was blocked by a well-built wooden camp.

Cao Cao reined in his horse, stopped the entire army, and only took ten personal guards with him. He rode to the highest hill nearby, from where he could look down and observe the enemy formation.

"The enemy general should not be underestimated. He actually knows how to set up a stronghold."

Cao Cao didn't know that Guan Yu, who was setting up camp, didn't understand any of this and was just following the steps in the operating manual.

"Interesting, this person is like a toddler, just reading from a script."

With his experienced eyes, Cao Cao spotted the flaw in no time.

He immediately gave the order: "Let Xiahou Dun lead 500 cavalry to harass the enemy, and Xiahou Yuan lead 1,000 cavalry to charge head-on."

Cao Cao looked far down the mountain, muttering to himself, "I've made a move, let's see what moves you have."

the other side.

When Cao Cao just arrived, the scouts sent out by Guan Yu had already discovered the enemy.

Only after Cao Cao gave the order did the scouts return with the intelligence.

"Two thousand riders!"

Guan Yu frowned. There were only 10,000 civilians camped on land, and 3,000 sword and shield soldiers.

With such a configuration, the only way to resist two thousand cavalrymen head-on is to use a circular formation for defense.

Fortunately, the wooden walls and chevaux de frise surrounding the camp had already been erected, leaving only the arrow towers and sentry towers which were still under construction.

In this way, Guan Yu only needed to block the cavalry's frontal charge.

However, this was not the effect Guan Yu wanted.

He also had a hundred cavalrymen under his command. These were the Chenliu cavalrymen sent by Jin Mao. They had superb riding skills and were unmatched by the imperial guards in terms of cavalry warfare.

"One song! Two songs! Go out of the village and form a circular formation to ward off the enemy."

Guan Yu loudly issued an order: "Defend the camp at Sanqu."

Soon, three thousand sword and shield soldiers were divided into groups according to their training and each performed their duties.

Guan Yu led a hundred cavalrymen to guard the gate of the camp, ready to attack at any time.

Half an hour later.

The ground rumbled, and Xiahou Dun galloped on his horse with excitement on his face.

Now that Cao Cao's army's combat effectiveness has increased several times, Xiahou Dun believes that there should be few people in the world who can stop him.

Therefore, Xiahou Dun did not just want to harass the auxiliary, but wanted to try to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

But Xiahou Dun was not as impulsive as Xiahou Yuan. At least he still had half a brain.

As soon as Xiahou Dun saw a lot of turtle formations appearing in front of him, he felt something was wrong.

“This is the elite!”

While feeling surprised, Xiahou Dun quickly gave orders and sent someone to tell Cao Cao and Xiahou Yuan.

He led more than 400 cavalrymen and tried to bypass the military formation.

But each turtle formation was only ten meters apart. Xiahou Dun instinctively sensed something was wrong, but Cao Cao's order was still there, so he rushed in anyway.

"Woo~!"

A long horn sounded from the local camp. Xiahou Dun felt alarmed and was about to order his troops to return.

A shock happened!

The turtle formation that had been motionless until now broke apart, and countless spears stabbed out, like a head-on attack.

"Herodi!" "Ahhhhh!"

The war horses neighed and the knights fell off their horses and screamed.

In just one encounter, more than two hundred of the five hundred cavalrymen who mistakenly entered the formation were lost.

"retreat!"

"The whole army retreats!"

Xiahou Dun didn't dare to stay and shouted urgently.

The screams continued.

When Xiahou Dun finally escaped, he looked back and saw that there were more than 400 people left out of the group that came with him, but less than 100 were left when he returned.

What made Xiahou Dun even more frightened was that without any orders, the enemy troops did not pursue.

What a terrifying group of enemies!
At this moment, Xiahou Dun put away his contempt and hurried back.

Cao Cao saw the situation most clearly from the top of the hill. He was happy that Xiahou Dun had narrowly escaped disaster, but was also shocked by the military proficiency of Jin Mao's army.

"Send the order!"

"Assemble the entire army!"

Cao Cao only hoped that the order would be given in a timely manner, otherwise, Xiahou Yuan would do something stupid.

as predicted!

Xiahou Yuan followed Xiahou Dun two miles behind him and witnessed with his own eyes how Xiahou Dun’s army was almost completely wiped out.

Even when Xiahou Dun warned him, Xiahou Yuan turned a deaf ear to it.

"The captain ordered me to charge, I will break this bird formation for the captain!"

"All troops, follow me and break through the formation!"

Xiahou Yuan gave orders quickly. This time he did not rush into the formation, but wanted to break through the turtle formation one by one.

He could see clearly that although the turtle formation was strong, the number of people in each small formation was small. The largest formation had no more than a hundred people, and the smallest formation had only fifty people.

As long as we have ten times more enemies, there will be no problem destroying the turtle shells one by one.

Xiahou Yuan didn't believe that human power could withstand the power of the combined strength of man and horse.

Seeing this, Xiahou Dun also returned, wanting to vent his anger.

(End of this chapter)