Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 344 Zhao Yun wants to learn from Zhang Wenyuan

In June of the 24th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao immediately withdrew his troops when he got the news.

At the same time, by the first ten days of June, it was exposed that Zhao Yan was having a wife in Runan University, and countless family letters were sent to Cao Jun's barracks.

There was an uproar in the camp for a while.

In addition, Shen Chen is known for his benevolence in the north. He once sent people to Henan and other places to treat the plague, and he has a good reputation.

Due to various factors, Cao Jun's morale was extremely unstable, and many people chose to flee.

Shen Chen took the opportunity to storm Cao Ying, and Cao Jun was in danger.

Three months have passed since the beginning of March to the present, and Cao Hong's 1 troops, plus more than [-] reinforcements sent by Cao Pi and Yan Kuang's Diannong army, only four or five out of ten remain.

Even Cao Hong himself was beheaded, and Zhao Yan was almost buried in the flood.

Under such circumstances, Cao Jun's overall morale almost fell to the bottom, with countless deserters every day, soldiers wailing all over the field, and the camp was lifeless.

If it hadn't been for the flood to pass and the land turned into a swamp, it would have been unfavorable for Shen Chen's attack. With the timely support of Cao Jun and Yan Kuang who stayed behind, Zhao Yan might have been captured alive by this time.

On the other hand, Shen Chen's battle shocked China, and his reputation spread everywhere.Not only can it stop children from crying at night in Jiangdong, but it also frightens the northern court.

Cao Pi in Yecheng was so frightened that he quickly transferred Yan Rou, Tian Yu, and Qianzhao from Youzhou in the north to Hebei. At the same time, he rushed to find Cao Cao for advice. Go north and take Yecheng directly.

But it was at this time that news of Sun Quan stabbing Jingzhou in the back spread.Not only Shen Chen got the news, but even Zhao Yan in Henan got the information from Zhang Liao on the Eastern Front.

"Hahahahahaha."

In the Cao Jun camp, all the generals gathered together. Now that Cao Hong died in battle, Wang Lang died suddenly, and Zhao Yan was the chief general of the army. Knowing that at this time, he showed a rare smile and felt relieved.

Deng Zhan, Jia Xin and other generals also smiled happily. These days, each of them has a sad and worried face on their faces.

However, with the news of Sun Quan's sneak attack on Jingzhou, they swept away the previous haze.

"Wei Wang's great cause has finally come true."

Zhao Yan's haggard face finally regained some anger, looked around and said with a smile: "Sun Quan sent troops."

"Oh?"

Deng Zhan asked in surprise, "Could it be that this is Wei Wang's plan?"

"good."

Zhao Yan nodded: "Only the general and I know about this matter. Our mission here is to hold back Shen Chen and create a suitable time for Sun Quan to send troops."

"I see."

Jia Xin nodded slowly, and then sighed: "It's the price of holding him back, which is a bit too high."

Mentioning this, everyone's face is not good-looking.

Although the task can be regarded as completed now, Cao Hong died and nearly half of the soldiers were lost.

Therefore, no matter from which point of view, they are not considered to have won, even if they win, it is a miserable victory.

"Don't mention it."

Zhao Yan sighed, and said, "King Wei will return to Chang'an after hearing the news, and take Nanyang directly from Wuguan. Shen Chen will probably withdraw his troops immediately, let's think about the next thing."

Jia Xin said: "Since it was planned by King Wei, he should have anticipated what will happen later."

"Ah."

Zhao Yan nodded: "So Ling Jun will come to Nanyang."

"Mr. Ling? Could it be Shang Shuling?"

Deng Zhan was surprised and said: "It is said that Shang Shuling's health has not been very good in the past two years. This time Wei Wang went west to Liangzhou. He planned to take Lingjun with him, but he gave up because Lingjun couldn't do it. Why did he come to Nanyang again?"

"Because this matter was planned by Ling Jun alone!"

"Is this your plan?"

"Yes."

"It's really admirable to be worthy of being the king."

"Now every step is going according to what Ling Jun once planned."

Zhao Yan said in a deep voice: "Ling Jun said that once Sun Quan takes action, Shen Chen will return to Nanjun regardless of everything. Our task is to continue to pursue and hold him back!"

"Hold him tightly?"

Jia Xin was shocked and said: "Gujun. It's not easy for us to stick to it. Are you still chasing it?"

"Chase!"

"But now, once Shen Chen sets up an ambush halfway, the whole army might break down and leave after a little contact."

"Don't worry."

Zhao Yan looked to the west with deep eyes, and said coldly: "Wei Wang, you will be back!"

.

.

On June [-]th, Shen Chen found out about Sun Quan's backstab through the carrier pigeon.

But he pretended not to know, and continued to storm Cao Ying.

It was not until June [-]th that they pretended to have just received the news, packed up the camp in a hurry, and withdrew their troops to Nanyang.

Because getting the news too early will make people hesitate, Sun Quan can discuss with Zhang Liao Xueti in advance, Zhao Yan can know the news earlier, but he must not.

Once Sun Quan was in action, he immediately withdrew his troops, which would easily arouse suspicion.

So he had to make sure that Sun Quan's backstab happened on the timeline as if he hadn't thought of it before, and left in a hurry.

In terms of the timeline, Shen Chen launched an attack on May 26, beheading Cao Hong, and a few days later, he was waiting for the water to recede so that he could attack from land.

At that time, Cao Jun's east camp and middle camp were flooded, and the west camp was on a higher ground, so the water rose to a height of three or four feet. Ships would definitely not be able to get through, and of course people would not be able to get through, so we had to temporarily clean up the remnants of the east camp and the middle camp.

Even most of the Cao soldiers in the middle camp successfully withdrew to the west camp. After all, it was already very late after the capture of the east camp, and there was no way to sail and fight in the night, so they had to withdraw to the camp and wait for the water to recede.

A few days later, at the beginning of June, the floodwaters gradually receded, and afterward, due to the overflow of the flood, it was a mess, forming a isolation zone composed of corpses, sundries, and ruined walls. These things had to be cleaned up again.

The so-called catastrophe must be followed by a catastrophe.

People who drowned in the flood rotted and swelled after being soaked in water, especially in summer, forming a gigantic view, which led to the spread of bacteria, and this is how the plague spread.

Therefore, Shen Chen's army strictly followed the epidemic prevention measures, and must restrain the corpses and clean the battlefield.

As a result, another few days passed.

It was not until the first ten days of June, about five or six days, that the camp was formally attacked.

But at this time, Zhao Yan had barely stabilized the army's morale, and the ground was slippery, with yellow mud and swamps everywhere, so that Shen Chen's offensive never broke through the camp.

In fact, it wasn't that Shen Chen released the water, he wanted to break it. If he could wipe out all Cao Jun in Henan, whether it was a blow to Cao Jun's morale or the threat he would receive when he wiped out the Soochow forces in the future, it would be much stronger than it is now.

However, there is no way to break it for the time being.

But it doesn't matter, [-]% of the matter has been done, and now it depends on whether Sun Quan will take the bait.

On June [-]th, Shen Chen saw Sun Quan take the bait.

He fought Cao Jun on the front line to the death, but Sun Quan tricked Jiang Xia's Huang She from behind to send troops, leading Su Fei and Chen Sheng to Wankou.

The collusion between Cao Cao and Sun Quan is a national policy for both sides, and only their two leaders, senior staff and senior generals know the inside story. Before Sun Quan sent troops, there were no more than [-] insiders on both sides.

The same Liu Bei Group's hiding troops in Bodao is also a national policy. It not only deceived Sun Shangxiang, but also deceived everyone below Zhuge Liang, Shen Chen, Fazheng, Jia Xu, Pang Tong, and Xu Shu.

Even Huo Jun, Tai Shici, and Huang Zhong who were transferred to Bodao didn't know what happened. If Huo Jun and Tai Shici hadn't died of the plague the year before last, Sun Quan might be dealt a fatal blow at a critical moment, not just now Huang Han, the commander of the Bodao army, was promoted.

Therefore, under such confidentiality conditions, Huang She was naturally not clear. He thought Liu Bei and Sun Quan were good allies. After learning that Liu Bei asked Sun Quan to send troops to help attack Hefei, he also sent troops readily.

However, at the same time as he dispatched troops, he had also sent someone to report the matter to Shen Chen.After all, Shen Chen is the highest military commander in Jingzhou, so he has full authority to know the situation.

Even this was probably the result of Shen Chen's behest, and the report was just a routine.

After learning that Sun Quan had taken the bait, Shen Chen began to plan for his withdrawal.Therefore, when he retreated on June [-]th, his arrangements were well-organized, and he designed several ambushes in a row, and went straight to Zhangling.

Also in mid-June, Cao Cao also got the news that Shen Chen had killed Cao Hong and that Cao Jun in Henan was in danger, so he withdrew in a hurry, returned to Chang'an in July, and began to go south from Wuguan.

Sun Quan's side was also moving at the same time. Sun Jiao sent troops on June [-]th, captured Jingnan before June [-]th, and went straight to Jiangling on the same day to seize the city.

Lu Meng crossed the river in white clothes on June [-], destroyed a large number of ships of the Jiangxia Navy, and then surrounded Xiakou, criss-crossing the river.

In fact, Huang She had more people than Lu Meng's army, but Lu Meng destroyed the ship, resulting in fewer ships. They could not fight Lu Meng on the Yangtze River, and could only defend the city of Xiakou to prevent the city from being destroyed.

The only good news is that since Lu Meng's first target was the wharf and dock, the warehouse east of Xiakou was not damaged. When the news spread to the city, Huang She sent troops to protect it immediately, hoarding a large amount of supplies, which can supply [-] people in the city. The army persisted for a year.

On June [-]th, Sun Quan tricked Chen Shengsu into Wankou, led Zhang Liaolai to attack the city together, besieged the city for two days, and left southward for Xunyang County, Xiling County on June [-]th.

On June [-]th, after several days of long journey, Sun Quan's main army had already arrived outside Xiling City.

At that time, Lu Meng stationed more than 1 troops in Chaisang, and he led more than 3 people to attack Xiakou by surprise. The remaining [-] troops were led by Quan Cong, Pan Zhang, Ding Feng and others. , they attacked Xunyang and were blocked by Zhao Yun.

Now Sun Quan's main force arrived, and his generals Cheng Pu, Jiang Qin, Lu Fan, Zhou Tai, Song Qian, Zhu Ran, Zhu Huan and others gathered together with Quan Cong and others, forming an army of [-].

In this way, adding Sun Jiao's 1 troops in Guiyang, more than 14 people led by Lu Meng, and [-] troops led by He Qi who are currently cooperating with Zhang Liao in attacking Su Fei in Wankou, the total force Sun Quan dispatched this time has reached As many as [-].

This has not counted the 1 reserve troops in Ruxukou and the more than [-] soldiers and horses participated by a large number of aristocratic families in Jingnan who were dissatisfied with Liu Bei after Sun Jiao attacked Jingnan.

In other words, if these people are added, Sun Quan dispatched about 20 people for this war.

Although he has weakened a lot at the same time as him in history, after continuously plundering the population of Shanyue and Jiaozhou, and using Liu Bei's policy of weakening the gentry to tie the Jiangdong gentry to warships, his total strength has already reached [-]. More than ten thousand, enough to start a large-scale war.

For Sun Quan, this battle was a battle that determined the life and death of Jiangdong.Except for the tens of thousands of troops left behind, almost all of them came out. Even Ruxukou had only 3 people to guard against possible sneak attacks by Cao Cao.

So this battle can be said to be a battle that gambled on Jiangdong's fate.

On June [-]th, the continuous rain stopped at the end of May long ago, the sun was high, and the temperature rose sharply. In the hot summer, the Jiangnan area was full of muggy and humid discomfort.

Xunyang County is roughly located in the area from Huaqiao Town, Wuxue City to Wuxue North Station in the later generations, with the hills and mountains of Dabie Mountain to the north, the Yangtze River to the south, and the vast and turbulent Peng Lize to the east. You can still see Peng Lize from a distance. , the wave water of Taibai Lake in later generations.

Sun Quan's army came from Chaisang on the opposite bank of the Yangtze River in the south and Wancheng in the northeast. If Zhao Yun, the defender of Xunyang, had chosen to withdraw his troops immediately and fled back to Xiling County in Xiling County from Qichun, it might not be too dangerous.

However, he insisted on the principle of not giving up an inch of land, and continued to stay in the city with about 8000 troops until Sun Quan's encirclement was completely closed, and he did not choose to abandon the city and flee.

There are about 5000 defenders in Xiling, half of them are in Xunyang, and the other half are scattered in various counties of Xiling, especially the Diannong Army who is currently working in the Anlu area. They need to transport the food and grass on the front line, so the city The guard strength of the army is obviously not much.

But the good news is that Xunyang County has been repaired by Zhao Yun for many years, and it has long been as strong as a fortress. The light city is three feet seven feet high, about eight meters high, and the grain and grass in the city are piled up, enough for the soldiers to spend half a year, so it is still safe for the time being. .

But Sun Quan didn't want to waste too much time in Xiling, so the day after arriving in Xunyang, he began to prepare for the siege.

At the end of the morning meal, the army officially set off.

This time, Sun Quan did not make the mistake he made in Hefei, but it was just that the number of people he led was small, and the old problem of going to the front line was still there.

This time, in addition to bringing the "Lujiang Shangjia", he also had a few troops led by Cheng Pu, Pan Zhang, Zhou Tai and others. About [-] troops arrived outside Xunyang City, and the [-] troops behind remained still. ahead.

Since the former army did not carry siege equipment, the marching speed was relatively fast.The middle army and the rear army brought a large number of siege equipment, and the marching speed was relatively slow. At present, there is still a problem of disconnection between the front, middle and rear armies.

However, this is not important anymore.

"Gu brought 2 people to the outside of Xunyang City, and ordered the army to spread out. Gu wants to go to the front line to investigate the enemy's situation in person."

Satisfied, Sun Quanzhi rode on his horse, and said to his attendants, "Even if Zhao Yun wants to learn from Zhang Liao this time, let alone whether he has Zhang Liao's strength, even if he does, what if he dispatches all the soldiers and horses in the city together?" Can you defeat my [-] troops?"

However, what Sun Quan didn't know at this time was that at the head of Xunyang City, the body of 50-year-old Zhao Yunwei'an was standing on the tower, overlooking the densely packed [-] Jiangdong Army that was encircling Xunyang City.

He turned his head and said to the lieutenants Lei Xu, Wen Bu, Deng Kai and others beside him: "Sun Quan betrayed the alliance and attacked Jingzhou. This time the attack is menacing. If he can't hold on, the morale of the soldiers may decline and they will not be able to fight for a long time. I want to learn from Zhang Wenyuan What do you all think of a surprise attack on his central army before his army is in formation?"

(End of this chapter)