Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 183 Liu Biao in Heyday

At the end of the seventh year of Jian'an, the strength of Jiangxia's navy began to increase dramatically.

Liu Biao's army is divided into three parts, one part is the Xiangyang army, which is distributed in Nanyang, Zhangling, Nanjun and other places.

The second part is the Yangtze River Navy. This part has fewer soldiers and horses and cruises around Jiangling and Zigui, mainly to prevent Liu Zhang from attacking from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

The third part is about Jiangxia Navy. Huang Zu and Sun's father and son are old friends. They have fought with them for more than ten years.

The southerners were good at water combat but not good at infantry combat. Liu Biao added troops to Huang Zu, and his support had reached [-]. He asked him to train the navy as soon as possible to prepare for the crusade against Sun Quan.

Although Jia Xu's customized strategy is to dominate the south, there is also a sequence.

Jiangdong is in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and attacking down the river is obviously better than attacking upstream. Therefore, Liu Biao decided to attack Sun Quan with the main force, and let Cai Mao lead the Yangtze River Navy to guard against Liu Zhang, adopting a strategy of first east and then west.

Not only Huang Zu in Jiangxia, but also Liu Pan in Changsha also increased their troops to [-].

Under the influence of the strategy of defending from the west and attacking from the east, Jiangxia, Changsha and even Guiyang in the east have nearly 2 soldiers.Zigui, Wushan and other places have only 2 people. After all, these places are very dangerous, and [-] people are enough to stop Liu Zhang's tens of thousands of troops.

The south seems to be caught in an arms race at this time. Under the influence of the strategy of the three parties wanting to win the southern part of the world, everyone is quickly rectifying the troops and training the soldiers to prepare for the next year's war.

On the contrary, the north is peaceful and peaceful. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao confront each other across the Yellow River.

Although Yuan Shao has a great family and a great business, no matter how big his family is, it is impossible for him to lose like this. In two defeats, he lost [-] soldiers and horses, and when Wuchao caught fire, the food and grass accumulated over the years were destroyed, which is really hurtful. It was a big blow to him to move his bones, and he had to recuperate.

The same is true for Cao Cao. Although he won, Henan was dilapidated, and a large number of people migrated out, resulting in a sparse population under his rule, and Guanzhong often rebelled. Now he barely occupies Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou and other places.

In this case, Cao Cao must stay away from the quagmire of war in the south and concentrate on production and agricultural development.So after returning to Xudu in April of the seventh year of Jian'an, Cao Cao and Xun Yu discussed moving the capital.

As one of the top strategists in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xun Yu also believed that the capital should indeed be moved, and the strategic direction should be to eliminate Yuan Shao in the north and avoid getting too entangled with Liu Biao.

The only question is where to move.

Luoyang?

Dong Zhuo was burned down in one fire, and was dilapidated, and now there are air leaks on all sides.

Hanoi?

There are indeed a lot of fields in Hanoi, and there is the Black Mountain Army. Zhang Yan once wrote to the court that he was willing to join him. If Zhang Yan joins, Cao Cao's strength will greatly increase.

But Hanoi County is too close to Jizhou, a bit like the Warring States period, the distance between Yangzhai, the capital of South Korea, and Daliang, the capital of Wei State, is very close at hand.

Once the two sides go to war, just like Nanyang can attack Xudu at any time, Yuan Jun will fight Cao Jun near the new capital, destroying the surrounding fields, which is not conducive to farming.

Then the only places left to choose are Kaifeng, Suiyang, and Changyi.

The geographical advantages of these three places are obvious. First, they are relatively far from Nanyang. The average distance from the three places to Xiangyang is more than [-] kilometers. If Liu Biao wants to go north to attack Cao Cao, he has to travel thousands of miles, which is not conducive to attack.

The second is that the distance from Yecheng is relatively moderate. The average distance from the three places to Yecheng is more than 200 kilometers. If Cao Cao wants to fight Yuan Shao, the supply line will not be too long, and it will be easier to use the Yellow River to stop the enemy.

The third is that there are a lot of plains around the three places, and there are countless fields that can be reclaimed. They are located in the hinterland of Henan Province, with many rivers and lakes. Even Changyi is close to Dayeze, so they will never be afraid of drought and lack of water to irrigate the fields.

So the conditions in these three places are more suitable.

But first ruled out Liang Guo Suiyang.

Because Cao Cao has the Yingchuan faction supporting Kaifeng, and the Yanzhou faction supporting Changyi.

When Cao Cao moved the capital to Xuchang, it was because of the support of the Yingchuan family that he exchanged the capital for Xuchang. Now, although the capital needs to be relocated due to strategic needs, the interests of the Yingchuan faction must also be taken care of.

Kaifeng is not in Yingchuan, but in Henan, but it is very close to Yingchuan. The Yingchuan faction's aristocratic families don't want to be so far away from the mainland, so they naturally hope to put the new capital closer.

On the other hand, Cheng Yu, Mao Jie, Li Dian, Yu Jin and others of the Yanzhou faction definitely want to take care of the interests of their hometown. This is human nature and unavoidable.

In the end, Cao Cao weighed the pros and cons, and after discussing with Xun Yu, he decided not to put it in Kaifeng or Changyi, but moved the new capital to Chenliu.

The geographical environment of Chenliu is not as good as Kaifeng and Changyi, and the surrounding land will be less. It is surrounded by two rivers, like a corner at the upper end of a triangle, and the land is basically at the bottom of the triangle.

But one advantage is that it is located in Yanzhou and is closer to Yingchuan, which can not only balance the interests of Yingchuan faction, but also guarantee the interests of Yanzhou faction. It is the next best choice.

So in May of the seventh year of Jian'an, after harvesting the new wheat in Yingchuan, the Xudu court moved the capital north again, to Chenliu County, more than 100 kilometers away.

In this way, the new court Chendu is more than 200 kilometers away from the gate of Nanyang, and more than 400 kilometers away from Xiangyang. It only needs to set up more beacon towers and sentries in Yingchuan and Runan.It would be very difficult for a southerner to kill Xu Du in two days with a pair of iron feet like Shen Chen did.

The imperial court was busy moving, and a large number of people in the fields were relocated. Cao Cao sent people to move a large number of people from Peiguo, Runan, and Yingchuan to the north, and concentrated in Liangguo, Chenguo, northern Peiguo, northern Runan, The area in the north of Yingchuan, together with Henan County, has a population of more than 200 million gathered around Chenliu.

At the same time, only a small number of soldiers and horses were deployed around Runan and Yingchuan, and the main force was stationed along the Yellow River in Dongjun in the north.In this way, since Nanyang is far away from Chenliu, and the Yellow River is very close, even if the south comes to attack him again, he only needs to arrive within a day if he wants to quickly return to defense.

In the seventh year of Jian'an, he spent time preparing for war in the south and recuperating in the north.

The eighth year of Jian'an has officially arrived.

In February, while Sun Quan was still preparing for war, Huang Zuhu sent 5000 generals including Deng Shuo, Zhang Hu, and Chen Sheng to raid Chaisang.

Chaisang's beacon fire, before they came, Zhou Yu knew the news and immediately defended.

Hundreds of mighty ships sailed on the river, and the Jiangdong Navy also faced the battle at the same time. In Peng Lize, the two sides fought fiercely together. The battle lasted for a day, and then they each stopped.

At that time, Zhou Yu had 6 troops, but Jiangdong's troops at this time were not enough, about [-] to [-] horses. Sun Quan urgently needed time to replenish his troops and train his soldiers.

After all, unlike Liu Biao, he had hundreds of thousands of farm households in the Nanyang Basin to help him grow food, and there were a large number of northern refugees living in Nanyang, who could recruit recruits anytime and anywhere. Every soldier in Jiangdong was very precious.

By May, Huang Zu had launched several tentative attacks on Jiangdong.

His family background is too rich. In fact, he only had 2 or [-] people before, but Liu Biao directly increased his troops to [-].The recruits have been trained for more than a year and need actual combat, so they start to bring in the old and the new.

You must know that as the number one general in Jingzhou, Huang Zu's navy is not weaker than Jiangdong.He was almost defeated by Sun Ce several times in the past because he had far fewer troops than Sun Ce.

Because Liu Biao had to guard against Cao Cao in the north and Liu Zhang in the west, he gave him little support, so Huang Zu was almost fighting against the six counties in Jiangdong with the strength of one county.

Now that his strength has increased greatly, he naturally decided to start looking for an active attack.

In more than three months, the two sides fought several times in the Penglize area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the losses of both sides were almost the same.

In July, all-out war finally broke out.

Sun Quan personally sat in Pengli County, with Zhou Yu as the governor, Lu Su as the lieutenant of Zanjun, and Zhou Tai, Cheng Pu, Ling Cao, Ling Tong, Lu Meng, Han Dang, Dong Xi, Xu Sheng, Hu Zong and others as generals, Lead [-] soldiers and kill Ben Chaisang.

At the same time, Huang Gai, Sun Ben, and Zhu Zhi led [-] troops to go south to Yichun, and confronted Liu Pan and Huang Zhong's army, who had gone north from Youxian County to Liling at this time, in the area of ​​Pingxiang City in later generations.

Taking retreat as an advance, Huang Zu began to fully retract his army back to Qichun, and fought in Qichun, Xiazhi, Zhu County, E County and other places.

The war continued, and Huang Zu's plan to lure the enemy into an ambush was broken by Zhou Yu and Lu Su. Instead, he was ambushed during the pursuit. He fell into a disadvantage in the early stage, so he withdrew his troops and returned to Shaxian. The north bank used the cliff to launch catapults and arrow rain to repel the Jiangdong army.

And in Quren County in Bajun, Liu Zhang sent General Wu Yi to station troops here.

In fact, neither Liu Zhang nor Sun Quan were as strong as they imagined at this time. Sun Quan had just pacified Jiangdong, Shanyue also occasionally rebelled, and Liu Zhang had just quelled the Chaos of Zhao Wei. The current total army strength is about the same as Sun Quan's, only [-] to [-], and it will take ten years. There are more than [-] people.

So at this time, Liu Zhang's Zhonglang general Wu Yi, Bajun prefect Yan Yan, and his subordinates Liu Gui, Ling Bao, Deng Xian and others led an army of [-] soldiers out of Yufu and marched towards Zigui.

Cai Mao strictly carried out the defensive tasks assigned by Liu Biao and stationed troops in Yiling.

Yizhou has no navy.

Because the upper reaches of the Yangtze River are too narrow and the current is fast, it is not suitable for naval forces, so Yizhou is the army's advance.

However, Cai Mao occupied Yiling and held on to the left and right mountainous areas, so that the Shu soldiers could not advance an inch.

The two sides had been in a stalemate for more than a month. No matter how Wu Yi sent people to provoke, Cai Mao just couldn't hold out, which was a bit like Lu Xun in the battle of Yiling.

However, this strategy was proposed by Jia Xu.

The great thing about Jia Xu is that the strategy he proposed is actually very pertinent, with almost no loopholes.

Liu Biao is a smart man, if you really give him a stupid suggestion, he will not fail to think of it, so if you want to gain his trust, you must have a perfect strategy.

of course.

Man proposes, God disposes.

If an accident occurs during the implementation of the strategy, it is naturally none of his business.

In October, Huang Zu attacked again, regained the counties, personally led troops into Chaisang, and fought a bloody battle with Jiangdong.After nearly two years of training and actual combat, Huang Zu's new army had greatly increased in strength, and Sun Quan was defeated and retreated to Pengli.

At the same time, Jiaozhou Shepherd Zhang Jin was killed by his subordinates. Of course Liu Biao, a strong soldier, would not give up this opportunity. He immediately dispatched Lai Gong as the governor of Jiaozhou and Wu Ju as the prefect of Cangwu in the name of King Chu.

In this way, from the perspective of the territory, Liu Biao now occupies a very large territory, as far south as Guangzhou, Guangxi and part of Vietnam.In the north is the whole territory of Hunan and Hubei, as well as a part of Guizhou and the Nanyang Basin, with a population of tens of millions and [-] to [-] troops.

At the beginning of the ninth year of Jian'an, Huang Zu and the Jiangdong navy launched a decisive battle in Penglize, which was known as the Penglishui Battle in history.

Huang Zu took advantage of the large number of soldiers and horses and the mountains of food and grass. Since last year, he has been fighting a war of attrition with Jiangdong, and the two sides have continued to attack back and forth.

Because Liu Biao holds the Nanyang Basin in his hands, with more than two million mouths in the basin, he continuously provides grain and grass to Xiangyang.

And Xiangyang is connected to the Yangtze River through the Han River, so Liu Biao transported more than [-] million grain and grass to Jiangxia last year, and countless weapons and supplies, which increased the odds of victory for Huang Zu to attack Jiangdong.

After half a year of war, Jiangdong became increasingly scarce. They were defeated in the battle of Penglishui and lost troops. They could only choose to retreat to the Anqing area of ​​Zongyang and guard its entrance to Jiangdong.

However, although Jiangdong lost a lot, Huangzu didn't take advantage of it too much. The ratio of losses between the two sides was almost one to one. Even Huangzu died more than Jiangdong. It's just that Jiangdong had fewer soldiers, and there were many casualties in the battle of Peng Lishui. There are seven to eight thousand people, and food and grass are also very scarce, so they have to retreat.

Therefore, Huang Zu did not take advantage of the victory to pursue. Instead, he chose to garrison the area of ​​Chai Sang and Peng Ze, and sent generals Su Fei and Deng Long down the Gan River to cooperate with Liu Pan in You County to defeat Huang Gai, Sun Ben, Zhu Zhi and others. people.

Huang Gai and others received the order to retreat as early as Zhou Yu's retreat. Before Su Fei and Deng Long and others came, they went south from Yushui to Yuhan County, and then followed the later generations of Yingtan City, Shangrao City, Quzhou City, The route of Jiande City, Tonglu County, and Hangzhou City returned to Qiantang.

Since then, almost all the soldiers and horses in Jiangdong have withdrawn from Yuzhang County. After this battle, the whole county of Yuzhang was taken over by Huang Zu.

And Liu Biao sent people to contact the Shanyue tribes in Le'an and Linru in February of the ninth year of Jian'an, intending to order Liu Pan and his allied forces to go north along the Ganjiang River, reach Yanyang County, and then go south from Yushui to attack Jiangdong.

In March, Huang Zu continued to march, and was in a stalemate with the Jiangdong Army in Anqing and other places.

The reason for the stalemate here is that the Yangtze River in Anqing is a little narrower. There is a huge Jiangxinzhou in the center of the river, making the widest point 1.5 kilometers and the narrowest point about 1 kilometer. There are many mountainous areas on both sides, such as catfish Mountain, Mashi Mountain, Yanglin Mountain and other places.

Although the width of one kilometer is already very exaggerated, it is still a little bit reluctant for the Jiangxia navy.After Liu Biao increased his troops, thousands of ships, large and small, stopped on the river.

The Jiangdong Navy also blocked the river with a large number of ships. If they rushed directly, they could only collide with the boats, or they would go ashore and fight with the Jiangdong Army.

It's just that Huang Zu had confidence on the water, but he couldn't guarantee it after he landed.

Therefore, the two sides entered a brief stalemate.

Liu Pan's side was much smoother. He went south from Shanyang to Yuhan, and then went north to Fuchun via Geyang, Shangrao, Dingyang, Xin'an, Xinchang, and Jiande to confront Huang Gai's army.

The reason they went so well was because of the alliance with the local Sangoshi.

In fact, the instability of the Sun family in Jiangdong did not come from the four counties in the north of Yangzhou, but in the two counties of Yuzhang and Kuaiji in the south. These two counties belonged to Jiangxi, Fujian, and southern Zhejiang in later generations. They were all mountainous areas and were occupied by Shanyue people.

Ever since Sun Ce attacked Jiangdong, and even when Sun Quan established Wu, the rebellion in Shanyue has never stopped.

So under the leadership of the locals, Liu Pan continued to advance and killed to the rear of Jiangdong.

For a time, Jiangdong was at stake.

Liu Biao.

Also reached its peak!

(End of this chapter)